While Others Became Specters
by Lux's Sister
Summary: Some were very much alive. It's rebel versus thief when the crew of the Ghost encounters a group of Onderonian con men, that is until it comes to light that they both work for Fulcrum. With more than enough corrupt Imperials to go around, a new job for both teams is in order. After all, every good rebel must know how to steal. [While Others #6]
1. Old Jho's Intel

**WHILE OTHERS BECAME SPECTERS**

 **By Lux's Sister**

 **Cast of Characters** _(Italics indicate an OC)_

Ahsoka Tano

Lux Bonteri

Saw and Steela Gerrera

Captain Rex

King Tandin of Onderon

Mina Bonteri

Hutch St. James – "Cashier from Hell," a brilliant hacker

 _Hero St. James – (The rebel who yelled "Look!" at the end of Tipping Points) Hutch's wife, a snarky rebel who loves to cook.  
_

 _Sierra Bonteri – the group's grifter and the youngest Bonteri child, three years Lux's junior_

 _Tav and Kiara Bonteri - Lux and Ahsoka's son and daughter_

 _Molly St. James - Hutch and Hero's daughter._

 **EXPLANATION OF THE AU**

This story is a continuation of the While Others series. If you have not read the other stories, _please go read them now._

It's been a while since the last story was completed, so I will try to fill you in here.

This story takes place in an alternate universe where several characters who appear to have died have survived due to a government program called the Lazarus Project. The Project was designed as a propaganda tool for the coming Empire, and two of its victims were the Bonteri family and Steela Gerrera.

After Steela's escape from prison and the reunion of the Bonteris, Wilhuff Tarkin and King Dendup were jailed for their crimes until Order 66. Ahsoka married Lux Bonteri, and two years later gave birth to a son named Tavin. Hutch and Hero St. James also married and chose to adopt Katooni, a Jedi youngling left alone by the deaths of her friends.

After the rise of the Empire, the rebels were forced into hiding and had to become con artists in order to survive.

On one con, Sierra Bonteri's alias fell apart. She was arrested by notoriously cruel prison warden Tor and held for four days. During her captivity, Tor took out his vendetta on the Bonteri family by torturing her. The rebels arrived in the nick of time before Sierra went into shock and had to be taken to a medical station on Alderaan.

In retribution for what was done to their friend, the rebels exposed Tor's many crimes to the Sector Ranger. He was arrested and sentenced to jail.

And now, without further ado, I present the story.

…

 **WHILE OTHERS BECAME SPECTERS**

 **CHAPTER ONE - OLD JHO'S INTEL  
**

"Come on, Jho. You have to know something."

The old Ithorian continued on his business behind the counter. "Not much is coming my way, Kanan. I just know when my next shipments are coming in."

"It doesn't have to be big," Kanan says. "Just enough to sustain us for a while. Don't you have anything?"

Jho shakes his head, and Kanan's about ready to ask if he wants some tables bussed for a quick credit, when the Ithorian turns around.

"Actually, there is one thing." He says. "That character Azmorigan was in here a while ago, complaining that a group of con men stole everything in his cargo hold. If I were you, I'd watch out for them."

"Con men?" Kanan asks in consternation.

"Con men and con women _."_ Jho corrects himself. "Azmorigan was going on and on about how he was charmed by a woman, of all things." If it was possible for Ithorians to snort, he would. "A box of rocks could outsmart him."

 _True,_ Kanan thinks. _It wouldn't be the last time a woman outsmarted Azmorigan. I only wish I could have seen the look on his face when Hera hit him with that tray._

"Anyway," he says. "I think they're still local, and if you were to return Azmorigan's goods to him, he would reward you handsomely."

…

 _"Azmorigan?"_ Hera cries when Kanan brings the idea up in the cockpit.

"We don't work for Azmorigan!" Ezra interrupts. "We work against Azmorigan."

"I don't like it either, but we need to put fuel in the _Ghost_ and food on the table." Kanan argues.

Hera likes it even less, having spent time with the crime lord. "I understand, love. As much as I wish there were other options, I'm not sure there are."

"Hera, Kanan, you can't be serious." Zeb argues. "What do we know about these con men -."

"Con _artists,"_ Sabine corrects.

"Whatever," Zeb scoffs. "Whoever they are, what do we know about them besides that they stole from Azmorigan? That's not saying very much."

"That's true," Kanan points out. "But luckily for us, Azmorigan is the type who talks to his bartender and Old Jho was more than happy repeat it for us. I know about the group dynamics, and the best time to strike. And for that, Hera, I have a question."

"What about?"

"Do you have a dress?"

Hera's proverbial hackles go up. "Kanan, what did you do?"

"I may have used Jho's transponder to hire the crew." Kanan admits sheepishly.

"You did _what?"_

Ezra decides to go scrub the ventilation ducts, they _really_ need cleaning.

Sabine suddenly remembers she left her paints uncapped and she doesn't want them to dry out.

Zeb conveniently has to go to the refresher.

And Chopper, Chopper just leaves without pretense or excuse.

Once all four of them are gone, Kanan knows he's really in the doghouse.

"Tell me," Hera says, struggling to keep her voice even. "Why did you hire a group of con men, and how much do they know about us?"

…

 _"Our clients are the crew of the_ Ghost," _Hutch St. James announces to the group of rebels seated in the common room. "They say they're a group of private contractors based on Lothal."_

 _His wife Hero sniffs. She isn't a fan of their current docking location at all._

 _"What do they need?" she asks._

 _"The guy who called me said they'd been cheated by a rival merchant cartel and needed us to help get their money back." Hutch explains. "But if you could bottle 'suspicious', this guy's supply could stock a store for a year."_

 _"So, what are we actually going to do?" Saw asks._

 _Lux Bonteri, the team's mastermind, studies the information._

 _"If we all go in at once and we're smart, then we should be fine." He says._

 _"Lux, are you sure it's a good idea to take a job while Ahsoka takes the kids on a training mission?" Steela Gerrera asks._

 _"With backup, it shouldn't be a problem." Lux proclaims. "When Ahsoka and the kids get back, we'll have a nice surprise for them."_

…

Kanan is starting to regret that he asked to meet the con artists in a restaurant, and not because of the nature of the place. He purposely picked an upscale, but still crowded establishment for their meeting.

He completely forgot that "going to a restaurant," for some members of his crew, meant hours of preparation.

"Sabine," he yells. "I need to use the refresher, please!"

There's a scuffle, and then Sabine rushes out the door in a cloud of chemicals and neon color.

"Sorry, Kanan. My new paints didn't set." She apologizes as she examines the designs painted on her arms. Hera breathes a sigh of relief that she didn't paint them on her face.

He wordlessly goes about his business in the refresher and once he's out, his crew has gone wild.

Sabine is happily putting on a pair of wild-colored shoes with high heels ("I found them in a Dumpster and after I painted them they looked great!") Ezra is complaining about the shirt Hera is trying to make him wear ("It looks dorky, Hera!" "Well, it's what we have.") Zeb is trying to figure out how to tie a tie. ("There's a reason we didn't wear these things on Lasan. They're too complicated.") And Chopper, for no apparent reason, rolls up to shock Ezra.

"What was that for?" The teenager yells to the orange droid, who only whirrs in response.

Hera grabs him. "He says to put on the shirt!"

Kanan knows what Chopper is saying, and it isn't remotely close to 'put on the shirt'. But he's pretty sure Ezra hadn't caught it so he plays along.

"We have to blend in with the other patrons, Ezra." He said.

Ezra grumbled and did the top button. "I know, I know. I still don't like it."

"Fine," Hera says, smiling in satisfaction at their team – even though Zeb's tie is crooked, one of Ezra's buttons is unbuttoned, and Sabine's outfit would make a rainbow look dull. "Let's go, everyone. Time to meet a crew of con artists."

…

"Zeb, stake out the bar," Hera orders as they approach the restaurant. "Ezra and Sabine, take a table where you can see the exits. I don't have to remind you that all alcoholic beverages are completely off-limits?"

"What?" Ezra asks with mock disappointment. Sabine slugs him.

"We'll just get glasses of water, Hera." She says.

"Good. Alert Kanan and I if you see anything or anyone that looks suspicious."

"And where are we going?" Kanan asks.

"We're taking a table as well." She says, linking her arm with his. "I'm not going to let you meet these people alone. When it comes down to it, I own the ship and I'm the captain. Therefore…"

"Therefore, you make the rules," Kanan admits, feeling about one inch tall.

Ezra snickers behind them, and Zeb slugs him before Sabine can get to it.

…

"Specters five and six, status report." Hera orders, raising her comlink.

 _"It looks like it's all clear. We have our waters and Ezra ordered cheese fries. I didn't even know places like this served cheese fries."_ Sabine says rather happily.

 _"See, I told you this was going to be fun."_ Ezra replies, his words garbled by what Kanan and Hera can only assume is a mouthful of cheese fries.

"Stay alert kids," Hera advises and shuts off the comlink. "All right, Kanan. When do you think they'll arrive?"

"They won't all show up at once," Kanan whispers. "Jho said the group we're looking for will probably try to contact us through a grifter. That person's job is to act as a ruse or more commonly, charm and persuade the target into handing over whatever the crew is trying to steal."

"And the charmer is going to be the one talking to us. How do you know we don't end up being targets?"

"You can't charm a Jedi," Kanan smirks. Hera would beg to differ, but he keeps talking. "She may be the figurehead, but her crewmates will be everywhere."

"She?"

"Azmorigan said he was tricked by a female, and the perfect grifter is an attractive woman. She operates like a black widow. Do you think she's already here? There are attractive women everywhere - you know, other than you." he quickly covers.

Hera looks around the room, then picks up her comlink again. "Specter four, are there any women at the bar who are only responding to attention from wealthy-looking men?"

 _"Negative."_ Zeb reports. _"There's one person trying to buy a woman a drink, but she's not interested. I would step in but it looks like the bartender has everything under control."_

Hera and Kanan direct her attention to the bar. A Rodian man is hovering around a human woman with dark, curly hair, and trying to convince her to let him buy her a drink.

"I'm not interested, sleemo." The woman snaps, brushing him away.

"Come on baby, you haven't even touched your water." The Rodian wheedles.

"Hey! The lady said to scram, so get lost!" The bartender shouts.

The Rodian turns around, mumbling, but then reaches for the woman's chest. Hera sees it. Kanan sees it. The bartender sees it. But above all, the woman sees it.

Without missing a beat, she snatches the Rodian's wrist, grabs one of his fingers, and bends it backward.

"Want a broken finger?" she asks dangerously.

The Rodian pulls back, and the woman releases him with a shove. "Son of a daglo," she mutters and goes back to her drink as he makes a run for it.

"You all right?" The bartender asks, sneering at the Rodian.

The woman nods. "I'm fine. Thanks."

"Looks like she handled herself well," Hera says.

"Sure did." Kanan turn his attention back to the table. "Now, what about -?"

"Excuse me?"

Hera and Kanan look up. Standing by the table is a woman, late twenties or so, nervously scrunching her hand through her red hair.

"I'm sorry if this sounds strange, but can I sit with you until my friend gets here?" she says. "She's caught in traffic and some men by the door were bothering me."

"Of course," Hera says graciously and moves over to give the woman a place to sit. "You have pretty hair."

"Thank you," the woman says, taking her hands from her tresses. "It runs in the family. So, are you two husband and wife?" she gestured to Kanan and Hera.

"Oh, no." Hera says. "Not yet anyway."

"Really? You could have fooled me." The woman settles herself into the chair. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too." Hera says and subtly kicks Kanan under the table. But Kanan has already seen it.

Kanan edges around the table, slowly pulling his blaster from his pocket.

"You know, it's strange that you have brown eyebrows yet you say your natural hair color is red." Hera begins.

The woman holds her hand out in a stop sign gesture.

"Before you do anything," she says, "I'd look over to the table where your friends are sitting."

Kanan looks. There's a man sitting at Ezra and Sabine's table. And he doesn't look like he's there to talk about cheese fries.

"I'd choose your next words very, _very_ carefully." She says.

"Fine," Hera comes closer. "But first, tell your friend at the bar to walk out of here."

Kanan watches as the woman at the bar freezes.

"People at bars actually drink their drinks." Hera says triumphantly.

The woman who hit the Rodian stands up and walks out, sending a very black look toward Hera.

"Well," the red-haired woman at their table announces. "It looks like the decks are finally even."

 **A/N: And here it is – the much awaited sequel to "While Others Fought for Justice". Who's glad to see our two groups of rebels together, even if they're currently working against each other? I for one am very excited to see how this story unfolds.**

 **Thank you to everyone who reviewed to the last story and to Black Sheep. And speaking of reviews, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Lux's Sister**


	2. Two Tables of Grift

**CHAPTER TWO**

Ezra and Sabine sit at their table, watching the doors and scarfing down cheese fries. After a while, Ezra picks up the basket.

"They're all gone." He says woefully.

"That's not exactly a surprise," Sabine says. "You were scarfing them down like nobody's business."

Ezra groans. "They were so good! Do you think Hera and Kanan will be mad if I order more?"

"Yes,"

Just then, a waitress drops by their table, holding a second dish of cheese fries.

"Hey kids," she says, setting down the dish.

Ezra's eyes grow big as Lothal while Sabine sputters out "I'm sorry, we didn't order these."

The waitress smiles. "Compliments of the gentleman over there."

Sabine turns around in her seat to see a tall, dark haired man walking toward them.

"Hello," he says, pulls out a chair at their table and sits down with them. "Your names are Ezra and Sabine, correct?"

"What does it matter to you?" Sabine asks.

The man shrugs. "I just wanted to confirm. My name is Lux and I'm sorry to bother you, but I hope the cheese fries can help make up for it."

 **HERA**

The woman from the bar walks over to our table, frustration pouring out of her face. She reaches for a chair next to the redhead, but I put my boots on it.

"Sorry, this one's taken."

"It's fine," the redhead says.

"Uh, no way."

"Steela," Redhead says, more urgently. "It's okay. I've got this."

The woman from the bar narrows her eyes at us.

"Fine," she growls and walks away.

Kanan and I focus our attention back on Redhead.

"Now that we all know that we're not here for dinner, how about we start off with names?" I ask.

Redhead pauses, as if waiting for instructions.

"I'm Sierra. You?"

"Hera and Kanan," Kanan says before I can do or say anything else. "Your friend out there, I take it, is Steela?"

"And over at the table would be Ezra and Sabine." She says sweetly. "Speaking of which, I have to commend her on her very bold fashion choice."

I level my pistol at her under the table. "Call off your man."

"If you shoot me, I guarantee my friends will return the favor. Anyway, why would you want to shoot me if you planned to hire us?"

"You're the grifter?" Kanan asks, even though we know the answer.

"Surprise."

"Call off your man," I repeat.

Sierra leans on the table. "I can't. He outranks me."

"Nobody outranks the grifter," I bait. If I can play off Sierra's ego, then we might stand a chance to get the man away from Sabine and Ezra.

But Sierra just shakes her head. "This one does. Always has, always will. Speaking of backup, will you tell the little orange droid rolling around to leave? My friends are saying his language isn't suitable for children's ears."

 _Chopper, Zeb is going to turn you into spare parts when he gets his hands on you._

I raise the comlink. "Specter three, abort mission."

 _"Waugh-waugh Waugh!"_

"I know, specter three. Just go back to the ship."

Chopper rolls past us and silently makes a few noises which roughly translate to swear words. Sierra doesn't seem to understand, so Chopper does the next best thing: he reaches out a prod to zap her.

"Yack!"

She jumps backward, away from the offending prod and toward Kanan. Big mistake.

Kanan cinches an arm around her waist and seats her between both of us, still holding on tight.

Sierra stiffens. "Let me go."

"He'll let you go when you call off your crewmates."

"That's not a very good idea." She says. "They're starting the emergency plan. Watch."

Suddenly, a bear of a man rises up from another table and crosses over to Ezra and Sabine's. Without missing a beat he sits down next to Sabine, effectively blocking her in.

The first man moves to block Ezra.

Kanan tightens his grip around Sierra's waist. "Well, that worked."

"What worked?" she asks.

"Now that the emergency protocol is in place," I say, "We just flushed out the rest of your backup. Now, let's talk business."

 **LUX**

"So?" the boy, Ezra, taunts. "What are you going to do now that Kanan has your friend?"

"Ezra!" Sabine growls.

Tandin holds a hand in the "stop" gesture to pacify them. "Quiet, both of you. This is still under control."

It is. Because unbeknownst to Hera, Kanan, and the others at our table, a second couple is listening in on the conversation while enjoying their drinks.

 _"Guess again, captain."_ Hero St. James says before taking another sip of her wine.

Behind the bar, Saw Gerrera serves a beer to a customer before glancing over at the tables.

 _"Sierra, do you need backup? Cough for yes, clear your throat for no."_ he asks through the comm.

Sierra clears her throat and I internally breathe a sigh of relief. _Thank goodness Ahsoka and the kids aren't on this job. I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about them._

Tandin passes the untouched dish of cheese fries over to Ezra. "These are for you two, you know."

"That's nice of you, but right now we have some bigger problems." Ezra responds.

I fish a cheese fry out of the dish. "Fine, have it your way," I say, popping the snack into my mouth. "That woman Kanan's holding is my sister. We'll get her back."

"How do you think you're going to do that?" Sabine half-shouts, lunging.

Tandin grabs her shoulder. "Easy, young Mandalorian. My friend and I mean you no harm. We're simply two people who are good at doing our jobs."

"Your job is thievery."

"As is yours," Tandin says. I can tell he's getting déjà vu of Steela at sixteen. "Aside from art."

Sabine yanks his hand from her shoulder. "Don't touch me."

"As you wish," he concedes, placing his hand on the table. "Lux, how well is Sierra handling the situation?"

 _"What kind of job do you want to hire us for?"_ Sierra asks. _"Aside from the merchant cartel story."_

 _"We weren't really going to hire you,"_ Kanan says. _"We were planning on -."_

 _"They actually thought they could get away with robbing us?"_ Steela laughs from outside. _"Ha! In their dreams."_

"She's doing what she can." I say with a smile on my face. "Now all we have to do is get back to the ship."

"How do you plan on doing that?" Ezra asks. "Kanan and Hera can just as easily take your sister back to the _Ghost."_

Not likely, considering they'd have to go through Sierra, Hutch, Hero, and Steela at the very least. That isn't counting assistance from me, Saw, or any chivalrous types who jump in.

"It's a simple procedure," Tandin explains. "We'll exchange Sierra for you. I'm sure Hera and Kanan will cooperate, they seem to be reasonable."

"Hera and Kanan don't bargain with thieves." Sabine snarls.

"They will when they realize we haven't laid a finger on you." I answer. "Both parties walk away, and no one gets hurt. It's a simple solution to the problem."

"A simple solution." Ezra snorts. "That's still not going to put food on our table."

I push the dish of fries toward him. "We'll box these up for you."

…

Nobody at Kanan and Hera's table looks pleased when Tandin and I march over with Sabine and Ezra.

"We've brought your friends." Tandin says, keeping a firm hold on Sabine's hand. "Now let our grifter go and this will all be over."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sierra mouth the word _Lasat._

 _Lasat?_ Why does she care about a Lasat? Heck, the only one in here is at the bar, near Steela's old position…

Using Tandin as cover, I step behind him and mumble into the comm: "Saw, the Lasat at the bar is part of their crew. Take care of him."

 _"Got it,"_ Saw grumbles. _"I'll figure something out. Hey, you! You're cut off."_

 _"I haven't even touched a drink!"_ The Lasat argues.

"All your backup is gone." I say. "Even the droid. So if I were you, I'd accept this kind offer."

"And if we don't?"

"We can bring your crewmates back to our ship; we have enough supplies to make provisions for them." Tandin says. "I trust the same provisions would be made for Sierra. Possibly this should be negotiated with cooler heads."

Kanan pulls Sierra closer to him and presses a pistol into her side. Sierra's apathy tells me it's on stun.

"That's not going to happen."

 _"Hold it! Nobody is getting shot, nobody is being taken prisoner and nobody is conning the other one!"_ The most terrifying voice in the galaxy snaps.

Oh, my goodness.

I look over my shoulder as Ahsoka comes over to our table, Steela on her heels.

Ahsoka points over at Saw and the Lasat. "Steela, break that up."

Steela darts off toward the bar, her disposition practically shouting _yes ma'am!_

"Fulcrum?" Hera nearly whispers.

Sierra looks at Kanan, then at Hera, and then at Ahsoka. "Wait, you two know each other?"

"Kanan, let her go." Ahsoka orders.

Kanan immediately releases Sierra, who starts to scramble out of the booth.

"Ahsoka, what's going on?" I ask. "How do you know these people?"

"It's a good thing I love you, Lux Bonteri." Ahsoka crosses her arms. "Since you all didn't bother to check with me before going on a job, you almost ended up conning your own team."

Hera blinks. "Our own team?"

"We're all rebels, aren't we?" she whispers.

Ezra stares at me. _"What?"_

Ahsoka jerks her head toward the doorway. "Once Steela breaks up the situation at the bar, we're going somewhere else to talk. Everyone follow me, we're going to have a serious conversation."

 **A/N: Nobody's been shot, and Ahsoka has the situation pacified. Only one thing remains: Lux and Kanan are both going to be in serious trouble when Ahsoka gets ahold of them.**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics and Johnt12345 for your reviews! And speaking of which, please review.**

 **Until next time,**

 **Lux's Sister**


	3. The Apples of Anger

**CHAPTER THREE – THE APPLES OF ANGER**

 **KANAN**

Fulcrum spends the entire journey back to her ship telling off her crewmates. Particularly, her husband Lux.

"You took a job without my knowledge? Lux, do you have any idea what Katooni, the kids, and I were thinking when we got home and none of you were there?"

"It seemed simple, Soka. I figured, how wild could it possibly get?"

"You clearly don't remember the New Year's Eve party."

The others freeze.

…

 _Music pumped through the hangar bay, so loud it almost rattled the streamers haphazardly thrown over the rafters and drowned out the sounds of the party below._

 _Captain Rex couldn't hear his own thoughts as he watched Ahsoka rush up to Lux and drag him over to the bar. The purpose quickly became evident: the rest of the women were at the bar, waiting for him to ignite their flaming shots._

 _Lux touched the tip of a lighter to each glass. The women blew the flames out and slammed each dose of liquor, Lux not far behind with his own flaming shot._

 _He turned his attention away from the women, to where Saw and Hutch were playing a drinking game._

For full-grown adults, _he mused,_ they can still act like teenagers at a house party.

 _The next day was much calmer, as everyone at the party was too hung over to move._

…

"I vaguely remember blowing out flaming shots." Steela recalls.

"I drunk kissed Shara Bey." Saw groans. "And then her boyfriend Kes Dameron punched me in the nose."

Sierra moans. "I played beer pong with my ex after helping Steela finish off the flaming shots."

"I was the one who poured the flaming shots." Lux remembers.

"What happened at the New Year's Eve party?" Ezra asks innocently.

But before I can deliver a lecture about drinking responsibly, Zeb speaks. "They all got _lit."_

"You could have at least called me." Ahsoka says, back to business. "It's a good thing you left Mina and Molly on the ship, otherwise I don't know what would have happened to you all."

"Wait, I didn't tell them where we were going." A woman who Ahsoka calls Hero protests.

"Molly tracked the comms." Ahsoka offers as an explanation. "And once she found out where you were, Katooni went back into the call log and looked up the last number you called to find out who you were meeting."

Hero looks at a man I'm assuming is her husband.

"That would explain a lot." He says.

"They get it from you, Hutch."

"Hey, they're hacker's daughters."

"Enough," Ahsoka breaks in. "Kanan, Hera, what were you doing hiring my crew?"

"We didn't know they were your crew," I begin, "And we were getting desperate for credits, so..." _Just get it over with, Kanan._ "We were going to rob them and return the goods to Azmorigan for a reward."

To my shock, Ahsoka doesn't blink. "So you were both trying to run a game on each other. Nice. Sierra, want to tell me why you almost got yourself shot?"

"It was on stun." I interrupt.

"The job went south," Sierra says, removing the red wig she was wearing and revealing her real hair, a dark brown.

Ahsoka isn't very happy, but it's clear the grifter isn't a priority right now. Lux is.

"Do you have any idea what a panic your mom is in?" she demands. "She's frantic!"

Lux raises his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Ahsoka, I'm sorry. I'll take care of it when we get home, and we'll explain everything all at once."

…

Ahsoka's ship is enormous.

Then again, it would have to be. This group is enormous; I've already counted ten members, plus this "Mina" and three children brings us to fourteen.

Ezra comes up next to me. "Kanan, are we really going to go on board?" he whispers.

"If we can't trust Ahsoka, then who can we?" I answer, leading Ezra up the boarding ramp.

"I don't have a problem with Ahsoka," Zeb grumbles. "It's the rest of this crew I don't trust!"

"The big guy is a little intimidating." Sabine mutters.

"He just didn't know, Sabine. I didn't when I grabbed the grifter." I go to defend the big guy. He seems to be reasonable enough. "Mostly, I'm concerned about the bartender."

Saw, The man who was posing as the bartender is tall and strong, and he clearly knows how to fight. His ego may be inflated, but that does little to take my concern away from the way he almost tackled Zeb across the bar. They both would have gotten scars if Steela, the dark-skinned woman from the bar, hadn't run over to tell them they were both on the same side.

Hera holds out her arms. "We'll be fine, everyone. As long as we stay together, then we'll be fine. Nothing bad is going to happen."

The boarding ramp opens, and Lux stops short.

"Hutch, did you do that?"

Hutch shakes his head and points. "Nope, but I know who did."

I follow Hutch's point. Standing at the top of the boarding ramp are three kids, a boy and two girls.

Lux waves "Hello, Tav and Kiara. How was your training mission."

The Togruta girl waves. "It was good, Dad. Did Mom tell you how much trouble you were in?"

"Lots," the boy clarifies. "Grandma's going nuts."

Everyone from Ahsoka's crew winces.

"I have a feeling that's not going to be good," I whisper to Hera.

"Tell me about it."

The second girl, a human with light brown hair and a rather large nose, waves to Hutch and Hero. "Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad."

"Molly!" Hutch greets. "Hey Molly, where's your sister?"

"In the ship," the human girl says. "With Mrs. Bonteri."

"It's a good thing none of the actual kids went on the job." Saw, the bartender, says.

"I can't imagine." His sister replies.

Hera looks at me. I can tell this "Mina" person has already gained her attention. But mine is somewhere else.

I nudge Ezra. "Do you feel something?"

Ezra nods, just a little. "Yes. But it's not like the other things I've felt before. It's…"

I finish the thought for him. "Pure. Selfless. Calm."

Ezra nods.

"That's the Light Side of the force, Ezra." I say. "There are people here who have it."

Ahsoka turns around. "You're right. Besides us, there are three more on board."

I point to the kids at the top of the boarding ramp. "All three of -."

"No," Hero shakes her head. "Molly doesn't have it, but Tav and Kiara both do."

"What can I expect?" Ahsoka says, smiling broadly. "They're my kids."

…

We've barely walked onto the ship when our ears are assaulted with: "Who are all these people?"

I turn toward the sound. An older woman stands in the doorway, with one hand on the doorjamb and the other holding a caf mug. Her wire frame glasses, pastel-colored dress, and wholesome face give the image of a lovely, caring woman; everybody's mother, everybody's grandmother. If this woman showed up years ago to comfort me when I was alone, I wouldn't have minded a bit.

Only if you look deep into her eyes do you see it.

This woman is capable of transitioning from caring mother figure to hellbeast in less than a second. She doesn't take any crap from anyone.

I know this look because I see it in Hera's eyes all the time. My entire crew does too.

Ahsoka just smiles. "Mina, meet the crew of the Ghost. They're allies of ours. Everyone, meet former Senator Mina Bonteri. She's my mother-in-law."

Hera steps forward and extends her hand. "Hera Syndulla, ma'am. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Mina Bonteri smiles and takes Hera's hand. "The pleasure is all mine, Ms. Syndulla."

That's all the evidence I need to confirm the theory that women like Hera and Mina Bonteri know when they see each other. They just do.

"This is the rest of our crew. Kanan Jarrus, Garazeb Orrelios, Sabine Wren, Ezra Bridger, and our droid Chopper."

I shake Mrs. Bonteri's hand. "Good to meet you, Senator Bonteri."

"Most call me Mina," she says, squeezing my hand. "It's very nice to meet all of you."

Ezra rubs the back of his neck. "You, too." He says awkwardly.

Mina turns her attention to the rest of the crew. "Have you been formally introduced to the rest of our team?"

Those who live with the likes of Hera and Mina can translate that to _Ahsoka, introduce them to the rest of our team._

Ahsoka straightens up. "Right. I guess now's the time for formal introduction." She loops an arm around Lux's. "This is Lux Bonteri, my lovely husband who thinks he's the leader of this crew."

"Because I am." Lux jokes and points to two of the children. "These are Tav and Kiara, our wonderful children."

Ahsoka goes on, pointing to another. "Sierra Bonteri, grifter. Next to her is Steela, our thief."

Sabine's jaw drops. "Steela? You're Steela Gerrera?"

Steela nods. "That's me."

"You led the rebellion on Onderon during the Clone War!" Sabine says excitedly. "I _painted_ you."

"Really?" Steela asks. "If you have any holoimages later, I'd love to see them. If your armor's any indication, you look like a pretty good artist."

Sabine is in seventh heaven. "Of course! Thank you."

"Her brother Saw is our physical muscle," Ahsoka continues, pointing to Saw. "Our digital muscle, on the other hand, would have to be Hutch St. James. Hacker."

Hutch waves. "What's up, everyone?" he says, grabbing a bag of cheese curls and looking inside. "Molly, were you at my workstation."

"Yup."

He shakes his head. "This is Hero, my wife and the best cook the galaxy's ever seen. Our oldest, Katooni, is behind Mina. Molly over here is the youngest."

Ezra looks over at the Tholothian Katooni, then at her fully human parents. He's about to say something when Katooni butts in. "I was adopted after the fall of the Republic. Molly came two years later."

"And that leaves us with Rex, the former captain of the 501st Legion." Ahsoka says proudly. "And Tandin, the rightful King of Onderon."

This time I can't stop Ezra before he speaks. "You're a king?"

Tandin laughs. "For a time, young man. A long, long time ago."

"You were the best king the planet has seen in lifetimes," Saw tells him. "The people couldn't have asked for a better ruler. I just wish we could have kept you on the throne longer."

There's silence.

"That's why we do what we do," Lux says. "For the people."

Zeb breaks in. "That's very nice and all, but we have a problem too. Now that you've fallen through, we don't have a paycheck on the horizons."

Lux and Ahsoka look at each other.

"I think we can change that, Zeb."

…

"We know the Empire came to Lothal for a few reasons," Hutch St. James says, standing in front of a projector. "One, the planet is rich in ore for their factories. Two, the land is fertile. Meaning the Empire can profit greatly from agriculture. And how do they get their hands on agricultural land?"

"They take it from the local farmers." Ezra says. "My friend Moreena's farm was taken over."

"Exactly," Hutch affirms. "According to their records, the Empire takes away these families' farms and they have to go live in Tarkintown, where the Imperials send labor agents to hire day laborers. These families are so hungry they'll work for anything, so -."

"So they pay them next to nothing and the Empire reaps a huge profit?" Hero asks.

"Exactly. It's like in this book I read. _The Apples of Anger,_ or something."

"It's _The Grapes of Wrath,_ Hutch." Lux corrects.

"Apples, grapes, whatever." Hutch says, waving dismissively. "The point is that the Empire makes the people in Tarkintown work their own land, and then pays them peanuts. Actually, paying them peanuts would be an improvement."

"All right, we get it." Saw says. "But what's there to steal?"

Hutch changes the image on the screen. "Here's the deal. This system is working out very, very well for the people in charge. So well, in fact, that they don't have to spend all the money the Empire provides to pay the workers."

"A funneling scheme," Steela realizes. "They're skimming the top off the funds for themselves by shorting the workers. Impressive, in an evil way."

"It is," Hutch explains. "So, if we were to gain access to the funds somehow-."

"We can take that extra portion to give back to the workers." Hera says.

"And some extra for ourselves." Saw muses. "We could use a new compressor."

All eyes go to Lux Bonteri.

"What do you say?" Ahsoka asks.

Lux nods at Ahsoka, then at the monitor, and then at us.

"All right," he says, standing up. "Let's go steal some shady farmers."

 **A/N: Another job begins, this time with some allies.**

 **In his last review, Johnt12345 asked about this story's placement in the timeline. For everyone else's reference, I'd like to post the information here.**

 **This story takes place after "The Protector of Concord Dawn", and fourteen years after "While Others Fought For Justice". In this timeline Lux, Ahsoka, and Steela are 33, Saw is 36, Sierra is 30, Hero and Hutch are 35, Tav is 15, and Molly and Kiara are 12.**

 **Thank you to Johnt12345 and starwarshobbitfics for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Lux's Sister**


	4. Everyone's Favorite ISB Agent

**CHAPTER FOUR - EVERYONE'S FAVORITE ISB AGENT  
**

 **LUX**

"All right Hutch, what do we have on the landowners?" I ask.

"I'm still working on it," Hutch says. "So far, I have the business end down. The land is formally owned by someone named Spencer. Molly's digging into his financials right now. Made any headway on that, Molls?"

Molly shakes her head. "Not yet."

Kiara sits next to her cousin, looking intently at her monitor. Kiara may have gravitated more toward physical thievery, but watching Hutch or Molly hack is interesting.

At least that's what I think is happening until Kiara says "Ooh, click on 'Guy slips on Banana Peel'!"

"Are we on task over there?" Hutch asks.

"Yes," Molly says, stifling a peal of giggles with Kiara.

"This is important," Hutch reminds her. "We need the landowner's financials."

"Fine," Molly sulks and keeps typing.

"For personal life, the landowner's name is Robert Spencer. Married, has a kid at home, and is high enough in the Empire to deal with the farmers on Lothal." He looks at me. "That isn't saying much."

"Hey," the kid, Ezra, interjects.

Hutch raises his hands. "No offense, kid. It's just that there are bigger planets, and with bigger planets come bigger paychecks. If he was sent to Lothal, then it's no shocker that he's coming up with a funneling scam."

"It's a sloppy one, too." Kanan says. "Wouldn't the Empire be able to trace the funds?"

"Probably has a secondary account," Ahsoka muses. "That's what I would do."

"He does," Molly pipes up. "Dad, I'm sending it to you."

Kiara sits closer to her on the couch and takes half of the computer.

"Don't watch too many tooka videos." Ahsoka calls, rolling her eyes. "All right Hutch, what do we have?"

"It looks pretty simple. Spencer's transferring the funds into this account and then directing it into a few others. He's doing it so that auditors won't – what the heck?"

"What? What is it?" Kanan asks.

"My software flagged one of the accounts. It's either on some kind of watch list, or we've seen it before."

He selects the flagged account, and sits straight up. "Aw, come on man!"

I turn around. "Kiara, can you and Molly watch those videos in your room?"

Hutch doesn't hear me. "Look at this! And I thought this was going to go well."

"What's the big deal with…" Ezra leans to get a good look at the screen. "Somebody named Night-ween?"

"Nightwine, kid. His name is Konrad Nightwine." Hutch spits. "He's a loss prevention officer for the ISB. And fourteen years ago, he blew my best alias to pieces."

That was, hands-down, the worst week of our careers. The only upside was that we got Tor arrested.

"So?" Ezra asks.

Hutch turns around in his chair.

"Excuse me kid, I'm assuming you didn't hear the part about how he ruined my best alias." He says. "No alias is airtight but that one was pretty darn close, the person using it was one of the best grifters in the Inner Rim, and he still ripped it apart."

I don't like the way this is going. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that we need to find a new scam." Hutch argues. "You guys have no idea how dangerous this officer is."

"We've handled Agent Kallus and the Grand Inquisitor," Kanan says.

" _Inquisitor._ " Saw scoffs, "He doesn't have beans on Nightwine. Anyway, we can't send Sierra in to deal with him. Even if there's a miracle and he doesn't recognize her, she has a conflict of interest."

"How?" Hera asks.

"Sierra was using the alias when it was exposed." Ahsoka explains, almost whispering. "She walked right into Nightwine's trap and we didn't know until it was too late."

Hera and I know what that means. Ezra doesn't yet.

"What happened to her?"

Ahsoka looks at him.

"She was captured by the Empire and tortured for four days." She says. "We barely managed to save her in time."

I close my eyes. The image of Sierra in medical shock wasn't quick to leave any of our minds, especially mine.

"We can't let it happen again," Ahsoka says. "With Sierra, the commander who had her was brutal and had a vendetta, so he wanted to keep her alive longer. It was dumb luck that she was placed with him and held on as long as she did. One can only be so fortunate once in a lifetime."

"All right, so we don't use her," Kanan says. "Why don't I do her job?"

I try not to laugh.

"I'll do it," I volunteer. "I'm the auxiliary grifter and he doesn't know my face. Kanan, we need your crew for backup operations."

"That we can do," Hera says, looking to Kanan, Zeb, and the others. "Just tell us where you need us."

"To do that, we'll have to talk with the whole crew again." I lean into Kanan's ear. "Send Ezra to do something with Tav, Kiara, and Molly. We'll brief him separately."

…

"Do any of you have questions?"

I regret that question immediately after I ask it. Everyone except for Ahsoka, Mom, and Tandin, raises their hands.

"Okay," I scan the hands and select the most impatient one. "Saw?"

"Yeah," Saw crosses his arms. "Do you think I can't handle Stormtroopers?"

"I never said that."

"No. Instead, you assigned backup when we're not even sure we'll be dealing with more than regular old grunts and security officers." He scoffs. "I can do without Orrelios."

Zeb bristles. "You think so?"

 _"Gentlemen!"_ Mom raps out before I can intervene. The magic of BonScary stops them cold.

"You'll be doing what you always do," I say. "Just, you'll be working together."

"And in Plan B, I'm going undercover as a Stormtrooper?" Rex demands. "That armor is awful, and I don't fit it."

"Well Sierra doesn't fit it any better." Saw points out. "You're just the one who has the most experience with the old Grand Army of the Republic, so you blend in best. Anyway, you don't have to wear it if Plan A works."

"Speaking of which, where am I?" Sierra demands. "I didn't hear my name once."

"You're on this job." I explain, allaying her fears. The last time one of us tried to grift, we ended up getting mugged by Black Sun. "You're just not going to play a huge part."

"Why?"

For an answer, I bring Nightwine's picture up on the holoprojector.

Sierra's jaw drops. "No!" she wails.

"Yes," I nod.

"Are you serious? Who's next, Tor? The ghost of Life Day past?" She scoffs in disbelief.

"What?" Zeb asks.

"It's a long story," Steela explains. "And here's my question: If Nightwine is here, why are we taking this job at all?"

"We have to," Hera says. "The people of Tarkintown need regular food donations to survive, and we can't always get it to them. If we delivered those funds, then the donations we can bring would suffice. It's a matter of survival."

"We have to weigh all possible risks." Steela fires back. "And if we're working triage, then the lives and wellbeing of crew members ranks higher than that of civilians."

That brings pause from everyone. Steela's never said anything so cold before.

"Because it's been so long since we last encountered Nightwine, we think it's reasonably safe as long as Sierra isn't the main grifter." I explain.

"This plan is still risky," Sierra says. "Lux, I don't want to denigrate your skills or anything, but this is a complicated con and you're not a grifter."

I smile at her. "No, I was going to be a Senator. It's practically the same thing."

 **EZRA**

When a bunch of kids are sent to hang out together, that means everyone else is having a meeting they think you're not old enough for.

I disagree.

"I've lived on the streets and been working with my friends for almost a year now. I can handle briefing for another op." I scoff.

"It's not an op," Tav Bonteri argues "It's a job. It's more complicated."

"Same difference." I scoff.

The Togruta girl raises her eye markings. "He's got a point Tav. We've worked the phones for jobs before, and now they won't even let us listen to briefing?"

"I don't know, Kiara. Maybe Mom is having one of her protective kicks." Tav suggests.

"Or maybe not." Molly interrupts. "Want to find out what they're saying for sure?"

All three of us bound over to her side.

"Are you serious? You hacked in?" Kiara asks.

"Well, I almost hacked in." Molly admits. "There's just one more firewall, and I need the password."

"Can't you just hack your way around it?" I ask, sticking a bite of fried nuna from the communal bowl into my mouth. Tav got these from the kitchen and they're nothing short of delicious.

"My dad has these bugs up as a training exercise for me and Katooni." She explains. "It's going to take forever to break through unless I get the password. Kiara?"

Kiara raises her hands. "Don't look at me."

"Guess something!" I suggest.

Molly leans into the speaker. "Passcode, um … Molly!"

An error message flashes.

"Katooni?"

Error message.

"Hero?"

Nothing.

"Um…Onderon! Hutch! St. James! Cashier from Hell! Cheese curls!" Molly guesses, to no avail. Then her eyes narrow.

"University of Onderon?"

Bingo.

The firewall disappears and our friends' voices come out the speakers.

"Ha! Dad didn't think I'd be doing this when he helped me program bugs." Molly preens.

I ignore her, instead choosing to focus on Hera's argument.

" _We have to," Hera says. "The people of Tarkintown need regular food donations to survive, and we can't always get it to them. If we delivered those funds, then the donations we can bring would suffice. It's a matter of survival_."

"They're going to help the people of Tarkintown? What's so dangerous about that?" I ask in disbelief. "It's nothing worth locking us out over."

I grab the bowl of fried nuna and hold it up. "What is in this stuff that makes it so good?"

Suddenly, all three of them jump back as if the bowl of nuna is a grenade.

"Is something wrong?" I ask.

"It has a yellow sticker on it," Kiara says, horrified.

"So?"

Tav gulps. "I didn't see it when I took it out of the fridge, I swear!"

"A yellow sticker means that my mom was going to use it for a different recipe." Molly explains. "We have to fix it now, or she might turn us all into a side dish!"

 **A/N: Replicate the recipe, kids, and replicate it well! Hero is very possessive about food. Some of you may remember an instance in "While Others Fell To Darkness" where someone messed with one of Hero's yellow sticker dishes.**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics and Johnt12345 for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Lux's Sister**


	5. Saw Knows NOTHING

**CHAPTER FIVE – SAW KNOWS NOTHING  
**

 **EZRA**

"Oh my force," Kiara panics as we rush to the kitchen. "Oh my force, oh my force."

I shut the door behind us. "Do we even have nuna to make up?"

Tav tears open the freezer unit and rummages around in it. "Thank the force," he sighs, pulling out a bag of frozen nuna chunks. "It's a good thing Uncle Saw and Uncle Hutch like these things so much."

"And that the University of Onderon is on a losing-with-dignity streak." Kiara says. "They always eat fried nuna during the games."

Tav chucks the bag of nuna onto the table.

"Great! Now what do you know about making fried nuna?" I ask.

All three of them freeze.

"Aunt Hero doesn't let anyone in the kitchen while she's cooking." Tav says. "She says we're trying to steal her recipes."

I search my memory banks, but all I know about fried nuna is that it tastes good.

"It needs breading. Don't we have to roll it in flour?"

"It's not just plan flour, I'm pretty sure she puts spices in it."

Kiara swivels on her heel. "Molly! Your mom lets you in here sometimes. What does she do to the flour?"

Molly throws up her hands. "I don't know. She just throws stuff from the spice cabinet into the dish with the flour."

I open the spice cabinet and stare inside at the rows upon rows of bottles filled with colorful, fragrant spices.

"Uh, which ones?"

"Use the force!" Molly implores.

"You can't just do that." Tav, Kiara and I say in unison.

Molly rolls her eyes. "Sorry for being the only one here who isn't force-sensitive."

I grab a bottle at random, unscrew the lid, and sniff it.

"Do you think this could be it?" I ask

Tav leans over to sniff the bottle. "I don't know, dump some in. I think those black flecks are pepper."

I dump some of the bottle's liquid contents into the flour and Tav follows with the pepper.

…

Kiara dumps an enormous amount of oil in the frying pan, lights the stove, and waits before we toss the nuna in.

"You know, I think this is going to work." Molly says, washing the dishes in the sink.

Just then, Kiara bumps the pan and some of the oil sloshes out, right into the flame.

Molly tackles her down. I grab the pan of nuna with the Force and lift it away from the flame. Tav dumps the flour onto the fire, extinguishing it.

"Kiara!"

"I'm fine," Kiara says grouchily, getting to her feet. "Thanks, guys."

I place the pan back on the stove and light another burner. "No problem."

Just then, there's a knock on the door.

Molly clasps her hands. "Oh holy gods of Unifras, please let that not be Grandma Mina or Uncle Tandin."

" _Is everything all right in there?"_

Tav relaxes. "Don't worry, that's Uncle Saw. He's clueless." He whispers.

"Everything's fine, Uncle Saw!" Kiara yells through the door. "We're just making Ezra a snack."

" _Why do I smell smoke?"_

Kiara has to think about that one for a second. "We accidentally burnt nachos in the microwave."

Saw pauses, and the door opens.

All of us freeze.

"H-hi, Uncle Saw." Molly squeaks.

Saw looks around to the pan of still-smoking nuna, to the mess on the counter, and Molly and Kiara on the floor.

"I know nothing." he says, gesturing to the room. "I know _nothing_ , I see _nothing,_ I wasn't even here! When Hero asks, I know _nothing!"_

…

"Do you think it worked?"

I stare at the fried nuna in the dish. "They _look_ okay."

Molly takes an experimental whiff and wrinkles her nose. "They don't smell like they do when Mom cooks them."

"Well not everybody can be Hero St. James." Tav snaps. "Can they at least pass?"

"Visually, yes." I say happily. "They can."

On our ship, visual inspection is all that matters: if there's no mold on the ration bars, then they're safe to eat.

"But taste-wise?"

"Let's not deal with that right now," I suggest, put the lid on the container, and stick it in the refrigeration unit.

…..

Thirty minutes later, I hear a commotion coming from the kitchen.

"Are these our nuna wings? Hero even put a sticker on them for us." Hutch says. "That was nice."

"Hey, she never fails when the U of Onderon's winning streak is on the line _."_ Saw announces. "Man, I can't wait for these things."

I haven't even had time to cross my fingers before the sound of spitting and retching fills the ship.

"Saw?"

 _"What the heck is in these things?"_

"Calm down, man. Let me try a bite."

A few seconds and the sound of spitting later, Hutch pops his head into the main compartment. "Hey, babe? I think the nuna wings went bad or something."

"Bad?" Hero asks, getting up and walking toward the galley. "That's impossible; I just made them this morning."

"It might have been a bad package. They taste like vanilla."

 _"Vanilla?"_ Hero squawks.

Tav and I share a panicked look. I hope Kanan doesn't see it.

Hero stands in the doorway with a nuna wing. "The meat itself looks fine. It's like someone added vanilla to the batter."

 _Vanilla._ That's what was in the bottle I dumped into the batter.

"I must have grabbed the wrong bottle," Hero says woefully. "Vanilla fried nuna! Seriously."

 **STEELA**

When I enter our cabin Sierra is lying faceup on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Sierra, what are you doing?"

For an answer, Sierra points over to my side of the room. Sitting on my nightstand is the wine bottle she got for her birthday. Ahsoka wants us to keep it in our room so the kids don't get any ideas.

"Please help me get rid of that."

 _Ah._ Now I see. Years ago hen Ahsoka, Hero, and I took Sierra out for her twenty-first birthday, we discovered that she can hold her liquor about as well as a sieve. After a mere two drinks, she was sobbing that Lux didn't show up to her birthday party even though we were having a girl's night.

She spent the next day throwing up and hissing at me whenever I turned our bedroom light on.

With the exception of that wild New Year's Eve party, she barely touches alcohol after that experience. It's been months since her birthday, and the bottle is only half gone.

"How much have you had?" I ask.

Sierra rolls over. "I can't even uncork it."

Some gears turn in my mind, an idea on how to get rid of the wine and reduce some tensions all at once.

"Shake the wine. I'll be right back."

…

Sierra flips the laundry basket over and sets it in the middle of the floor as a makeshift table. She places the bottle of wine, freshly shaken, in its center.

I gesture to the table. "Welcome to our humble home, Captain Syndulla."

Hera cautiously takes a step into the room. "A bottle of wine?"

"To make up for the restaurant." Sierra explains. "I hope you like Nubian merlot."

A smile plays on Hera's lips. "I happen to have enjoyed a few bottles in the past."

Sierra only smiles and pours the wine.

"Then I can't think of anyone better to share it with."

An alarm bell goes off in my mind, screaming: _grifter mode! Grifter mode!_

How a bottle of wine on an overturned laundry basket constitutes a good situation for grifting is absolutely beyond me, but it's Sierra's own grave she's digging.

"We have smoked sausage on crackers here, too." I say as Hera sits. "They go pretty well with it."

"So you're familiar with wines?" she asks.

"I'm not," I admit. "Lux is the wine expert on the ship. He's the one who got this bottle for Sierra's birthday."

Hera picks up her glass, inhales to take in the wine's bouquet, and then takes a sip. "What is this? It's excellent!"

Sierra picks up the bottle and reads the label. "Ah, Nubian red, brewed in Theed?"

Hera blinks hard. "Your brother bought this for you for your birthday?"

"I wouldn't say _bought."_ Sierra admits. "He … _obtained."_

"He stole it," Hera translates. "Well, that makes more sense. It's valuable wine."

I take a sip of my own glass. If only Sierra and I knew that while we were guzzling the stuff straight from the bottle last week.

"So, you know wines?" I pick up on the conversation.

Hera nods. "Some. When you're moving goods against the Empire, it pays to know your wines in case someone thinks they can cheat you."

"Azmorigan?"

"Azmorigan." Hera confirms.

I take a gulp of wine. The last job we went on involved stealing from Azmorigan, and it was unpleasant to say the least. Lux, Ahsoka, and Sierra had to talk face-to-face with the disgusting crime lord, who really needs to clean out his ventilation ducts. I almost blew the con sneezing from all the dust.

"I've had a few brushes with him, none of them pleasant." Hera says.

Sierra snorts. "We stole a load of death sticks from his cargo hold last week. He shoveled food into his mouth the whole time. At least, when he wasn't asking whether or not Lux and I were willing to sell Ahsoka."

I distinctly remember hearing that conversation from the vents.

 _"Your land parcels are profitable," Azmorigan said. "But not worth a full delivery."_

 _"How much would that be?" Lux asked._

 _Azmorigan pointed to Ahsoka. "She'll do."_

"A smuggler actually sold me to him," Hera announces.

My eyebrows go up. "I would like to hear more about this."

Hera sips her wine. "Over a bottle of wine like this? How could I say no?"

…

"A B-wing bomber? The blockade buster?"

Hera nods. "It was a ship like no other."

"I've heard of those, but I've never seen one in the flesh," I say, absolutely rapt.

The bottle of wine is empty and the plate of sausages cleared, but Hera's a good storyteller.

I wink at Sierra, who's half asleep. "We probably should get some rest."

"True enough." Hera concedes. "Thank you for the wine. I think our teams will have plenty to learn from each other in the morning."

 **A/N: The idea for vanilla fried nuna goes to the lady on "Worst Cooks in America" who made vanilla fried chicken. And Saw's "I know nothing" line is taken from Sergeant Schultz from "Hogan's Heroes". Speaking of Saw, who else was excited to hear him mentioned in Rebels?**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitifics, Johnt12345, and Rose Ravenclaw for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Lux's Sister**


	6. Sabine Suffers for Art

**CHAPTER SIX – SABINE SUFFERS FOR ART**

 **SABINE**

I know this day is going to be interesting when Katooni shakes me out of bed saying she needs to scrub the painted designs off my arms.

"But I just painted them last night," I protest.

"I know," Katooni says. "Sometimes, artistic flair has to be sacrificed for the greater good. But there's an upside."

"What's that?"

The former Jedi Initiate drags a chair into the refresher and sits me down in it. "We're going to give you a makeover."

 _Makeover,_ I tense up a little, then force myself to relax. _Makeovers are a form of art, Sabine. This should be fun, even if you're not big into makeup._

Katooni rubs a wet cloth over my arms, removing the designs I so painstakingly created last night.

 _And it took an hour to paint those. But she needs a clean canvas to do her work._

 _Art, art. Think of it all as art._

…

 _"Ow!"_

Katooni yanks the wax strip from my eyebrow, tearing out the delicate hairs and leaving the skin red and screaming.

"Sorry," she apologizes, dabbing a soothing lotion on my brow. "But beauty is pain."

"You know, you haven't even mentioned why you're making me over." I point out as she rubs a moisturizer over my face. So far, Katooni's makeover is entirely underwhelming. I can only hope there will be more color with the clothes and makeup.

"Well, Sierra can't do her job because the mark knows her." Katooni explains. "Hera and I can't do it because the Empire won't let anyone but humans in. Steela has to do her own job, and my mom is a really bad actress. So, that only leaves one person."

"Why can't Lux or Kanan do it?" I ask desperately.

"It's a masquerade, not an alias." Katooni says smoothly. "You're taking the place of the real inspector, who's a woman. Don't worry, you shouldn't have any trouble since you went to the Imperial academy. And if you do, Sierra will walk you through it."

She brandishes the makeup brush.

"Now, hold still."

…

At least the colors Katooni rubs into my face are nice: a series of browns and tans for most of my face, black kohl smeared around my eyes, and a soft pink applied over my lips. I might have made some bolder choices if I was the one picking the colors, but it's clear I have no say in the matter. When I suggested a nice-looking purple eye shadow a few minutes ago, Katooni only said "Uh-huh" and grabbed a brown one.

But the painful ordeal is over. I now have waxed eyebrows, glossed lips, and mascara on my eyelashes.

"Am I good to go?" I ask.

For an answer, Katooni hands me a bundle of clothes.

"Put those on and meet us in the common room." She says, waltzing out of the room.

I look down at the clothes in my hands. It's general business clothing, a white shirt and gray blazer with a matching set of pants. Wondering what Katooni has against color, I step into them and glance into the mirror. My dyed hair sticks out like a blue rose in a snowbank. Or more accurately, a slush bank. At least Katooni couldn't take it away.

I open the refresher door and walk into the common room.

Katooni's sitting in a chair, preening. Hera and Kanan are on the couch, next to Lux and Sierra.

"How's that?" Katooni asks, gesturing to me.

"You look pretty, Sabine." Hera interjects.

"You do," Katooni compliments. "But the hair is going to be a problem. Hang on."

She zips off to her cabin and returns with a black wig, wasting no time before affixing the hairpiece to my head and scooping the false tresses into a professional bun.

"Perfect," Sierra announces. "Sabine, you look ready to steal my job."

"You can have it back." I mumble.

Sierra gets out of her chair and hands me a small flesh-colored object. "Here's an ear comlink. To go with that, we're going to put a button cam right here." She fixes a tiny device to one of my shirt's buttons.

"And last but not least, this." Hera butts in, holding out a small package wrapped in scrap flimsi.

I take it and start to tear the flimsi. Our crew doesn't have much in the way of material goods, and it's nowhere near my birthday. There's no reason for Hera to give me a gift.

The flimsi falls away and I look down at the trinket in my hands. It's a bracelet with glass beads, each a different color with a complementary swirl.

"To make up for all that gray," Hera winks.

"You shouldn't have," I say, staring at the piece of jewelry.

Hera clasps the bracelet around my wrist. "You deserve it, Sabine. Now let's get on the move; we have a job to do."

…

 _"Alright Sabine,"_ Hutch says through the ear comm. _"All the identification cards you need are in the purse we gave you. Your name is Livia Blane, and you're from the Imperial Department of Agriculture."_

"You're not a very high-ranking employee to be sent to Lothal," Sierra chimes in. "But the mark is going to treat you as if you're a queen. I want you to be assertive, but fall back on your cadet mannerisms as if they're habit."

"Just a question. What happened to the real Livia Blane?" I ask.

 _"She and the auditing department both think her boss sent an email to wait at the hotel for further instructions."_ Hutch explains. _"She's in a real nice hotel; she won't have any problem keeping busy there."_

Next to me in the speeder, Steela checks her gear. "You seem like you're up to the task. Hutch and Sierra have you covered."

"Thanks." I smile, checking my identity card. Sure enough, it's a Department of Agriculture badge with my picture and Livia Blane's name. The quality is impressive; I never would have pegged it as a forgery.

Kanan pats me on the shoulder. "You'll do great. After all, acting is a performing art."

Well, that makes me feel a bit better. "Thanks, Kanan."

Lux mutters something to Ahsoka. Something that sounds like "Unhand me, brigand!"

"That was once." She replies.

"I wish your master had gotten it on tape."

I look at Steela for an answer, but she just shrugs. This must be some kind of inside joke.

Captain Rex brings the speeder to a stop. "All right Sabine, this is your stop."

"Remember to keep your chin up!" Hera reminds me as I climb out of the speeder and walk toward the front door of the building, letting myself into the lobby.

The ear comlink crackles to life. _"Sabine, the mark is moving in. Shake his hand after he introduces himself."_ Sierra orders.

I bite back a smarmy reply and focus on the man coming toward me.

"You must be the officer from the Department of Agriculture," he announces and extends his hand. "Robert Spencer, Vice president of the division on Lothal."

I shake his hand. "Good to meet you. I'm Livia Blane, investigations and auditing."

 _The people in auditing are the scariest people alive._

And oh yes, Spencer looks just a little taken aback. "It's a pleasure to have you here, Miss Blane. I take it you'd like to see our accounts?"

"Yes," I say. "I just need to copy the records for my superiors before I inspect the rest of the operation."

Spencer's step catches. "The rest of the operation?"

"It's a new protocol. Didn't you get the HoloMail this morning?"

 _We_ didn't send it per se. Lux, Ahsoka, Hera, and Kanan fought over its content for a good hour and when they finally came up with a final draft, Hutch re-routed it through the Empire's servers to make it look like the Department of Agriculture actually sent it. The only reason his wife Hero didn't come in to help write it was because she was still moping over her vanilla fried nuna.

The look on Ezra's face told me he had something to do with it, but I kept mum.

Spencer digs his comlink out of his pocket to check his HoloMail. "Oh, of course," he says as he blatantly reads the message. "I'll be happy to send you the coordinates of our fields, the packing plants, and all our offices. There are no other surprises coming, are there?"

 _"Give him an ambiguous answer; it'll keep him on his toes."_ Sierra advises.

"I don't think so. But you never know with beauracracy these days." I say, walking ahead of him into the turbolift.

 _"Beautiful,"_ Sierra compliments. _"You're a natural. If you keep this up we'll have his credits in no time."_

The turbolift arrives at the agriculture floor, which doesn't look like I expected at all. The only thing vaguely agricultural about it is a painting of crops. Otherwise, it's a generic office building.

"The accounts are this way," Spencer says, leading me down the hall and to a large room. "Please feel free to use whatever you need."

I take a seat at a terminal. "This should work. Thank you."

 _"All right Sabine, I'll walk you through this."_ Hutch says. _"To send the files to me, plug your datacard into the port, and then select -."_

"I know how to send files," I whisper, plugging in the datacard and easily copying the files to send to him.

 _"You do,"_ Hutch says, a little surprised. _"Leave the datacard in there for one more…okay, I've got it. You can take it out now."_

Force only knows what he did, but it has to be good news for us.

 _"Sabine,"_ Lux says, _"Look at the files like you know what you're doing with them. After a while, tell him that the output numbers don't match up."_

 _"Lux, are you nuts? That'll just scare him."_ Sierra protests.

 _"You didn't let me finish."_ Lux says through what I imagine are gritted teeth. _"Say that you need to visit the fields in person in order to find out what's wrong. That's your opening."_

I bite my lip. "Looks like there's a problem here."

Spencer leans in. "Problem?"

"Well, your output numbers don't match with our estimates." I say, looking down at my datapad. "I doubt it's your fault, but I'll need to visit your fields to find out for sure."

…

The fields are exactly how I pictured them: absolutely depressing.

The hungry residents of Tarkintown labor with the crops, probably only to get a few credits for their efforts.

 _"Keep your cool, Sabine."_ Hera says. _"Do you need Sierra and I to coach you through the next part?"_

I duck away from Spencer. "No, I've got it under control."

"This is one of our fields." Spencer calls after me. "As you can see, everyone's hard at work. I don't know why those output numbers wouldn't match up."

"You've been using pesticide, correct?" I ask, walking to one of the tankers.

"Yes," Spencer says, jogging to catch up. "It's Imperial-grade; we buy it from a local company."

I unscrew the cap and look at the contents. "Looks okay," I lie, not knowing pesticide from Hoth. "And fertilizer?"

"Compost," he explains. "It's free and functional."

"Good," I agree. "There are just a few more matters I can think of. The weather's been agreeable?"

"It has. I just don't know how this happened."

"That leaves us to our last option."

Bending down, I open my briefcase to remove a small set of test tubes. I scoop some of the soil into the vial and add a few drops of liquid from two bottles. It almost immediately turns black.

"Well, that explains it."

"Explains what?"

I hold up the vial.

"Let's go back to your office, Mr. Spencer. We have a problem to discuss."

 **A/N: She may have a dangerous role, but she's doing all right! Now, what's the problem with the soil? And what is she even trying to steal here?**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, Johnt12345, and Rose Ravenclaw for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Lux's Sister**


	7. You Can't Bribe A Mandalorian

**CHAPTER SEVEN – YOU CAN'T BRIBE A MANDALORIAN**

Ten hours earlier, Hutch prepared a small case for Sabine.

"All right," he said. "So, when you take the soil sample you first need to add two drops of this solution. Then follow it with one drop of the solution in the smaller bottle."

"What's in it?" Sabine asked. "How do you know it's going to turn colors?"

"Because the big bottle is filled with corn starch solution and the little one is iodine," Hutch explained. "Molly played with it when she was a kid."

 **SABINE**

"So, what is this?" Spencer asks, gesturing to the little vial as we sit in his office.

"Found why your fields aren't producing." I announce. "It looks like the soil is testing for high levels of nitrates."

"Nitrates? Isn't that why we put manure in the fertilizer?"

"Overfertilization is the most likely cause." I tell him and set the vial back in my briefcase. "Too much nitrate slows and stunts plant growth. If the plants can't grow, they can't produce."

"Well then what does it mean?" he asks.

" _Sabine, he's nibbling at the hook."_ Sierra says. _"Reel him in, slowly."_

" _Karabast, I love this."_ Zeb says gleefully. He loves watching Imperials squirm.

So do I. "The good news is there's a solution." I say. "You just have to let the field lie fallow until the levels dissipate."

"Fallow?"

I yank on the proverbial fishing line.

"Yes. A full year for the levels to go down."

"A _year?"_ Spencer sputters.

"That's what the studies show." I begin to pack up my briefcase. "Of course, your contract to the Empire still applies. You'll have to make compensation payments to the Department of Agriculture."

I grab a piece of flimsi and scribble down Hera's bank account number. "Here's the account you can send the payment to."

"H-how much would this payment be?" Spencer squeaks.

I scroll through my datapad. "You generate three million credits of output each year, so you'll need to repay that to the Empire."

I hand him the flimsi and he reflexively takes it, mouth open at the amount I've stated.

"I'll be around to pick up receipt of the payment this evening." I say, smiling and starting out the door.

 _Ha, yes! I've actually pulled this off. I may be wearing the blandest colors in existence and I've never done this before, but it was easy. All I did was mess with Imperials and Sierra didn't have to coach me much at all._ My mind cheers. _Maybe I should do this more often and give Kanan and Hera a break a few times._

Suddenly, Spencer straightens up and scrambles. "Miss Blane, please. Livia!"

I stop short. "Sierra, what's going on?" I whisper.

" _It's okay, this happens all the time,"_ she says calmly. _"Just go back into the room and act receptive."_

 _Easy for you to say,_ I think as I turn back around. _You're not here!_

"Yes?"

"Livia, may I call you Livia?" Spencer babbles, rushing to shut the door behind me. "Ah, Livia…is there any way those numbers could be different in the near future?"

"Different?"

" _Oh boy,"_ Kanan sighs.

"I mean, is there any way the soil sample could be wrong?" Spencer asks. "Is there any way that, if proper provisions were made, you could reduce the levels?"

Is this what it sounds like?

Ahsoka apparently reads my mind. _"Sabine, he's trying to pass a bribe."_

That's what it sounded like.

" _Go along with it."_ Sierra instructs.

Is Sierra nuts? "Maybe," I test the waters. "What kind of provisions?"

" _Sabine, don't go any further."_ Ahsoka orders. _"Sierra, are you crazy? Accepting a bribe can get her arrested."_

" _Spencer's not going to report her; he'll be digging his own grave."_ Sierra snorts. _"Think of it. A bribe would go through underground channels and wouldn't leave us vulnerable to Imperial attacks. We could even hack it later to get the rest of the funds."_

" _A personal account would be way easier than an Imperial one."_ Hutch notes. _"We might get a bigger payday out of this."_

"Well," Spencer shifts in his seat. "Possibly a smaller compensation payment that I could give to you as thanks for alerting me to the problem."

"Oh…"

Hera swoops in. _"Sabine, take the money and let Sierra coach you. She knows how to handle bribes."_

"I think that can work," I tell him.

"Great, great." He says, quickly grabbing a stylus. "Now, ah, would fifty thousand credits do?"

" _He'll give you more than that if you ask."_ Kanan reminds me.

" _Honestly, this guy's pathetic."_ Sierra snorts. _"Pulling out that bribe is the only original thing he's done all day."_

"That wouldn't be enough to cover our expenses," I say smoothly. "A hundred thousand should work."

" _Maybe not that high."_ Kanan admits.

" _He can always haggle down."_ Ahsoka points out.

Spencer's breath catches for a second. "You see, Livia, I don't think we have the money for that high a payment."

" _That's a load of daglo manure,"_ Hutch says. _"I'm looking at his financials right now, he can pay out the wazoo with what he's taking from these farmers. Sabine, go eighty thousand, final offer."_

"Eighty thousand." I offer without thinking of what's coming out of my mouth. "Take it or leave it."

"That'll do, that'll do." He says frantically. His pen flies across the check, filling in the spaces. "How do you spell your name? Or, do I need to make it out to you?"

" _Livia Blane has a bank account."_ Hutch says.

"Livia, L-I-V-I-A. Blane, B-L-A-N-E." I spit out.

Spencer signs the check and slides it over to me. "If you don't mind putting that in your pocket…"

I check the amount. Eighty thousand credits.

"Of course." I place the check in my wallet next to Livia Blane's ID. "Well then, I guess I'll be on my way."

"It's a pleasure doing business with you, inspector." He says, hurriedly shaking my hand and opening the office door for me. "Now, allow me to show you to your speeder."

" _I'm driving around to get you,"_ Kanan says. _"Well done, Sabine!"_

A swell of pride fills my chest. I may be decked out in the galaxy's least exciting color and never have done this before, but I've just pulled off a con. I've just gotten an Imperial businessman to write me a check for eighty thousand credits! I've never seen eighty thousand credits all together before in my life, and now I'm holding a check for them in my pocketbook.

I'm going to have to get myself some new paints to celebrate.

Spencer babbles on about something, but I'm not listening. If it's something really important Hera and Sierra will prompt me and if it's not, then I don't want to hear it. I'm too busy basking in victory.

"Mr. Spencer, who is this?"

My victory bubble pops.

A tall, middle-aged man in an ISB uniform strides down the hallway, directly toward me and Spencer.

Through the comlink, Ahsoka sighs.

" _What's wrong?"_

"Mr. Nightwine." Spencer half-squeaks. "I was just showing the inspector from the Department of Agriculture out."

" _This isn't good."_ A harried Sierra says after uttering a string of what I think are Onderonian swear words. _"Sabine, that man is Konrad Nightwine. He's a loss prevention agent from the ISB. He specializes in tearing down grifters."_

Hera's concern is audible _"Is this the -."_

" _Yes, Hera."_ She says flatly. _"He blasted my alias. Hutch?"_

" _Beefing up alias as we speak!"_ Hutch calls. _"Don't worry, Sabine. I've been refining my art for fifteen years now. You're going to be just fine."_

 **EZRA**

"Vanilla fried nuna? Are you guys serious?" Kiara squawks. "You know how Aunt Hero gets when her recipes fail."

"You didn't stop us!" Tav protests, pointing at his sister. "And neither did Molly. How were we supposed to know?"

"I dunno, maybe because vanilla is so common a Geonosian could identify it by smell?" Kiara shoots back.

Molly and I have backed away from the bickering siblings. She's hiding behind her computer monitor, I'm just sitting next to her to distance myself from the conflict. This is eerily to Zeb, Sabine's and my fights on the _Ghost,_ and those always end with Zeb locking one of us in the refresher, Sabine painting an unflattering picture of us, or me sending Chopper after them.

I don't want to put myself in a sibling war that isn't my own. You don't survive the streets of Lothal being that stupid.

"So," I say awkwardly, looking at a bunch of nonsense on Molly's screen. "What are you doing?"

She shrugs. "Hacking my dad's system."

I try not to sound like an idiot. "Why would you want to do that?"

"If you can think of anything better to do, I'm all for it." She says. "But until then, I don't want to deal with Tav and Kiara. If he doesn't try to back-hack me, then nothing should end up broken or otherwise permanently damaged."

"If he can back-hack you, then why are you even trying? Why not go for something else?"

Molly rolls her eyes. "If you can get into the Cashier from Hell's system, then literally anything else is a cakewalk. I'll say one thing about Dad, he knows how to keep all our digital stuff safe."

"Cashier from Hell?"

"It's his hacker handle." She explains. "He started hacking from a cash register so the Empire and everyone in the underground calls him that. Mom's Waitress from Hell, Katooni's Initiate from Hell, and I'm Baby from Hell. Creative, I know."

Considering she's named all four members of the St. James/From Hell family, it's impressive to say the least.

"But," she says. "I do have one advantage. Dad and I are on the same ship, so we're using the same broadband. Thus, I have one foolproof channel to get in to his system."

The code stops scrolling on her screen.

"I'm in the authorized channels." She happily starts clicking through force-knows-what, and I turn my attention back to Tav and Kiara.

"You didn't even fess up to it while Aunt Hero cried." Kiara growls.

"I didn't hear you saying anything." Tav snaps.

"Guys," Molly says. _"Guys."_

Tav and Kiara stop fighting.

"What, Molly?"

"I'm in our authorized channels looking for a way into the central server." Molly begins. "And I thought it would be fun to see what Dad's doing for the con. Right now, he's beefing up an alias. Like, really beefing it up."

"Who's it for?" Tav asks.

Molly squints. "The name is Livia Blane."

I startle to my feet. "That's Sabine! Is she okay?"

"Not sure," she says, fingernails clicking against the keys. "But we're going to find out quickly. Does 'Nightwine' mean anything to you?"

 **A/N: Molly is in some trouble if she ever saw it. Hacking Hutch is never a good idea!**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics and Johnt12345 for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Lux's Sister**


	8. Sabine and Molly Play With Fire

**CHAPTER EIGHT – SABINE AND MOLLY PLAY WITH FIRE**

 **SABINE**

 _Konrad Nightwine. He specializes in tearing down grifters._

Wow Sierra, that just boosted my self-confidence through the roof.

" _It's all right,"_ Ahsoka reassures us. _"Sabine, if you stay calm he won't suspect a thing. Eighty thousand is a good paycheck any day. Just introduce yourself and say you're leaving."_

I extend my hand. "I'm Inspector Livia Blane. Pleased to meet you."

"Special Agent Nightwine." He says, pumping my hand with one firm shake.

" _Aw man, he got a promotion?"_ Hutch moans.

"Loss prevention." Nightwine continues. "I'm sure you understand, working at your position."

As much as I hate the thought, I'm going to kiss up to him. "For sure. We use a lot of the same tactics, actually."

Sierra butts in. _"Make a little complaint about a shared part of the job. That'll throw in a nice dose of camaraderie for him; it'll give him a nice, warm feeling about you."_

"When I first started, I thought I would throw up if I saw another expense report!" I say, tossing in a chuckle for good measure.

Nightwine's lip twitches.

" _That's good,"_ Hera sighs. One doesn't have to be force-sensitive to sense the relief pouring off her.

" _Sierra, you didn't use that complaining trick on any of us, right?"_ Steela asks.

" _Um…I don't know, Steela. All the stealing we do, I think if I have to lift one more wallet I'll go nuts."_

" _That's not funny."_

"So, what brings you here?" I ask Nightwine, praying that my alias doesn't know the answer.

"I've been stationed on Lothal to monitor the transactions for the Empire's new facilities." Nightwine says coolly. "A planet housing factories, mines, and large-scale agriculture requires a loss prevention agent to prevent any kind of _error_ from occurring."

" _Ask him if he means fraud."_ Sierra orders.

 _What?_

" _It'll make you sound innocent,"_ She explains. _"And considering you have a check for eighty thousand cred of bribe money in your briefcase, you need everything you can get."_

"You mean fraud?" I ask, praying that Sierra's instincts are half as good as she thinks they are. "Who would try to defraud the Empire?"

"There's been an issue with a small band of rebels." Nightwine says. "I'm sure the damages have been noted on your expense reports."

"They have," I say, swallowing a lump of concern.

" _Don't worry,"_ Hutch says. _"I'm beefing up the alias beyond belief. The one he cracked looks like Swiss cheese compared to this one. And I doubt anyone would recognize you without your blue hair."_

But I find aid in the most unlikely of places: Robert Spencer, shady businessman extraordinaire. "It's nothing our financial teams couldn't handle." He says, smiling widely.

 _Your financial team and your skimming operation._ I think wryly. _Too bad you're up against not just one team of rebels, but two. One of which happens to be a cell of elite con artists._

Takes one to know one, I guess. Except that our scheme flew right past Spencer's eyes. Maybe we didn't get the exact payout that we wanted, but eighty thousand credits still help the people of Tarkintown and supply a considerable commission for Fulcrum's team and our crew. And if Hutch manages to worm his way into Spencer's account, we'll only get more.

"I'd have to agree with that. We're working day in and day out to keep everything safe." I smile. "Well, I need to take my numbers back to headquarters before they start to think I've fallen into a hole."

"Of course," Spencer says, carefully ducking around Nightwine. I follow him. "If you'll excuse us, Mr. Nightwine, Miss Blane's speeder is waiting for her."

Nightwine nods. "Of course. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Blane."

"Yours too," I say and follow Spencer out, slowing my steps so I lag behind him. "Hutch, we need to deposit this check as soon as I get back to you."

 _"Don't worry, I already have mobile deposit open."_

I close ranks with Spencer in the turbolift. "Thank you for showing me out."

"Of course," he says, wringing his hands as the turbolift door closes. "And thank you for being so, um, understanding about the nitrates. I assure you we'll get that problem fixed as soon as possible."

Should I do it?

"It would be in your best interest to do so." I say, looking straight ahead.

That moment feels almost as good as cheating Spencer out of eighty thousand credits.

"Right, right." Spencer stammers. The turbolift stops and we walk through the lobby. "Is this you?" he asks, pointing to a speeder parked in front of the building.

"It is," I say, waving to Kanan in the driver's seat. "Thank you for your hospitality, and it was a pleasure doing business with you."

I offer my hand.

Spencer swallow hard and takes it. "Right, a pleasure. H-have a nice day!"

I half-strut out of the building and get into the backseat of the speeder.

"Got it?" Kanan asks, looking in the rearview mirror.

"Got it." I confirm. "Where are the others?"

Kanan starts driving. "They're waiting around the corner. Prepare yourself, Sabine. They're very excited."

…

"You were amazing!"

Hera climbs into the speeder, her lips a fountain of rare praise. "Sabine, you did such a good job. Eighty thousand credits!"

"Speaking of which..?" Hutch reaches out for the check, which I proudly hand over. He quickly scans it using his comlink and smiles. "Went straight through. I'm transferring it to our accounts now."

Sierra and Steela pile into their seats in the back, and Ahsoka and Lux follow getting in next to Hera and I.

"Sabine, you're a natural." Sierra praises.

"For sure." Steela elbows her friend. "You gave Sierra here a run for her credits a few times."

"What?"

"It's true," Steela jests.

"But in all seriousness," Ahsoka says, ignoring the women in the backseat. "If you ever get tired of being a graffiti artist, then you could look into acting."

"Not just acting." Lux specifies. _"Grifitng._ The Alliance can always use more people like you as long as it needs credits. And yes," he hurries to say before Hutch and Steela can protest. "I realize that stealing the Imperial Lottery grand prize was very difficult, Hutch. And yes, Steela, taking the Amulet of Iziz was no picnic-."

"No picnic? I was in an air vent for almost twenty-four hours waiting for the guard to go away."

"How are we going to get the credits to the people of Tarkintown?" I ask, changing the subject.

"Easy." Hutch says. "I'll ship them all bonus checks and put "employee appreciation event" in the memo line. Molly could help me with it, easy as pie."

"Come to think of it," Hero says. "Ahsoka, have you talked to any of the kids recently?"

 **MOLLY**

It took about half a second for Tav and Kiara to start fighting again. This time, they dragged the poor rebel boy, Ezra, into it.

I'm left where I always am: behind my computer, trying hack Dad to find more information about the con.

And also, to serve as a distraction from Tav and Kiara yanking Ezra to their sides of the argument like a yo-yo. _Man, it's kind of nice that he's taking my place._

I go back to the computer. _Nightwine would probably be a good place to start. Opening up Empire-wide search parameters…_

Hmm. Konrad Nightiwne, forty-odd years old. He works for the ISB's loss prevention department and apparently transfers that knowledge over to his finances. His savings are more stable than Coruscant's orbit. And the money market…impressive. Most impressive.

I go deeper. It looks like Nightwine lives alone for the most part. He's sending payments to someone named Emily Spring – probably a girlfriend or client. There was a recent withdrawal for a Matthew Cooper, too. I'll have to check those out.

HELLO MOLLY.

I freeze, eyes glued to the text which has seemingly written itself across my screen. Suddenly, a new window pops up.

THIS IS DAD.

Oh, I'm in so much trouble.

I type back _Hi Uncle Rex!_ This is totally a prank he would pull. The response is almost instantaneous.

THIS IS **DAD** , AND YOU'D BETTER EXPLAIN WHY YOU'RE TRYING TO HACK ME. RIGHT NOW.

 _Dad, I can explain._ I type, opening another window from which I plan to back-hack him. _Ezra got worried about Sabine and wanted me to check up on who she was working with._

Simultaneously, I sneak in through his channels. Come on, I just need one tiny little opening!

My program is thrown back in my face with a message.

MOLLY, DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO BACK-HACK ME.

 _I'm not!_ I type, sending another worm.

A new message fills the screen.

DDO NOT LIE TO USS

Uh-oh. Dad may have nigh-perfect typing skills, but when Mom gets angry she tends to hold down the keys. Shot in the dark, she grabbed Dad's computer.

 _Hi Mom?_

MOLLYY STOP TTRYING TO HACKK YOUR FATHERR!

 _Mom, I'm just looking at the con stuff. I'm not doing anything._ Hopefully she buys it and doesn't want to look at the records I've been digging through.

But the next message is neatly typed, with no double letters. That means Dad has the keyboard again.

I CAN SEE YOUR INTRUSIONS ON THE SERVER. YOU HAVE NO REASON TO BE LOOKING AT UNAUTHORIZED DATA FOR AN ACTIVE JOB. IT'S TOO DANGEROUS.

 _It's just the bank. Ezra was worried._

THEN ASK SOMEONE ON THE SHIP HOW WE'RE DOING. THEY ALL KNOW.

 _But they're busy and I can just look it up myself._

FOR THE RECORD, SABINE IS FINE. SHE DID A GREAT JOB.

Well, that's a relief. I stick my head out over the top of the computer.

"Hey, Ezra. Your sister's okay. Dad says she did a great job taking care of the mark."

Tav and Kiara's argument ceases long enough for Ezra to process what I just said. "Sister? Sabine isn't my sister."

"Could have fooled me." Kiara grumbles.

"But we're not." Ezra protests. "Not biologically, anyway."

While they talk, I go in for the back-hack one more time.

YOU'VE LEFT ME NO CHOICE. SORRY.

Right after I read that message, something pops up in my feed: a string of code only a few characters long.

My eyes widen. "Oh, no."

"What's going on?" Tav asks to my worried face.

I immediately close the messaging program and everything else I had open, trying to scrub the code from my hard drive. "My dad just sent me a fork bomb. It's a program that makes a gazillion copies of itself and it completely bogs down your computer. The only way you can get rid of it is to scrub it from all your programs."

"And that's not the only thing he sent."

My fingers freeze on the keys. Tav gulps. Kiara swallow hard. Ezra blinks.

The most terrifying person in the universe stands in the doorway.

"Hi, Grandma Mina." I squeak out.

 **A/N: Bonscary has returned! If Ezra hasn't already learned the depths of maternal rage from an angry Hera, he's going to learn it now!**

 **But it might not have been for naught. Does anyone recognize those names from Nightwine's finances?**

 **Thank you to Johnt12345 and starwarshobbitfics for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Lux's Sister**


	9. ISB Agent From Hell

**CHAPTER NINE - ISB AGENT FROM HELL  
**

 **EZRA**

Sometimes, Kanan would tell Sabine and I stories about life in the Republic before the Empire rose.

"Before the Empire, the Senate carried weight. I didn't meet many of the senators, but once my master was invited to a wedding on Onderon and she brought me with her." He rubbed the back of his neck. "The Senator for Onderon's son was the groom, so she was there. While I was eating dinner with my master, another youngling who had been invited grabbed the cake server and started swinging it like a sword.

"Senator Bonteri walked up to him, stuck out her hand, and he just gave it to her." He chuckled. "That's when I realized why everyone called her BonScary."

Sabine's and my reactions were something along the lines of "Okay, Kanan" and "Did you get to eat cake?"

Now I wish I'd listened better and gotten more information. Because nothing, and I mean nothing, puts the fear of the Force into me faster than Mina Bonteri standing in the doorway, mad as a Rancor.

"Hi, Grandma Mina." Molly squeaks.

Mina points out the doorway. "Common room. Now!"

She needs not move another muscle before all four of us are off like shots.

…

"What were you thinking, hacking into Hutch's computer and disturbing the job?" Mina shouts.

Kiara sticks her neck out. "Grandma, we weren't trying to disturb anything."

Mina gives her a look, and Kiara stops talking. She's not the only one who has; Tandin and Captain Rex originally were going to help Mina give us a dressing-down, but they backed off once she really got going.

"The point remains that you still did." She says dangerously. "And Ezra Bridger, don't think you've gotten away with anything. The only reason I'm not addressing you directly is because Hera and Kanan -."

" _Ezra!"_

Remember what I said about Mina putting the fear of the Force into me? I lied. Hera's mere _voice_ brings it on tenfold.

I startle up in my seat. "Hera! I can explain."

An angry green Twi'lek shoves her way through the room, Kanan on her heels.

"Ezra Bridger…" she growls, voice low and even more dangerous than Mina's. "What were you thinking?"

I throw up a weak defense. "I-I don't know how to hack like that!"

Kanan ignores me. "Do you realize what would have happened if Hutch's computer had crashed? We would have lost everything: the money, the access to the building's security, and most importantly the comm connection for Sierra to coach Sabine."

"Sabine did a wonderful job, but every grifter needs outside information and she was up against an ISB agent who specializes in con men." Hera snaps. "If that comm had gone down, force only knows what would have happened out there."

The realization that we were this close to causing harm to Sabine horrifies me. I don't want anything bad to happen to her any more than Tav wants something to happen to Kiara.

"But nothing bad happened," I bring up. "Hutch back-hacked Molly, and nothing happened except she has to scrub her hard drive to get rid of the fork bomb. It was like…hacking practice!"

I'm rather proud of myself for that one.

Hera and Kanan's faces tell me I'm in it deeper than previously thought possible.

"It wasn't practice for _you."_ Hera says. "Ezra, people who see bad things happening and don't do anything are just as guilty as those who do them."

Ouch. "But -."

"No buts." She interrupts. "I'm deciding how long you're going to be cleaning the _Ghost_ when we get back."

 _Hey, it could be worse._

If it's any comfort, the others are in the doghouse too. Tav and Kiara are fielding interrogations from their parents and from Mina, who apparently can't stop once she gets on a roll.

"You know how sensitive hacking is!" Ahsoka shouts. "You could have brought down Hutch's entire system and left us completely vulnerable."

"But we didn't!"

"Don't want to hear it, Tav."

If Tav and Kiara are getting roasted, then Molly's on fire. Hero's face is tomato-red, and Hutch is speaking in a low, serious voice.

"Molly, I'm very disappointed in you." He says. "I thought we had an agreement about hacking each other. We would only do it here, when there were no stakes."

"I know Dad. But Ezra was so worried, and I thought I could do it without bothering anyone."

"Well," Hero snaps. "You're going to have lots of time to think about it."

"That's true." Hutch says. "Hero, you've never scrubbed a fork bomb from a hard drive. It's exhausting. That program makes endless copies of itself so you have to clean out every single program on the device to make sure you get rid of all of them, or they'll keep multiplying."

"But I did do something important." Molly protests. "I would bring it up on my computer, but since that's fork-bombed, can I borrow yours?"

Hutch sits at his monitor. "You can tell me what I'm looking for and I'll search it for you."

 **KANAN**

"All right, so I pulled Nightwine's financials because you told me that was always the best place to start," Molly starts.

Hutch barely moves a muscle. "That's right, it is." He says, not even bothering to pull them up.

"There was some suspicious activity on the page."

Hutch shakes his head. "When you're dealing with financials for important, famous, or high-ranking marks there will always be some kind of shady financial dealings. It's just a side effect of importance. What kind of suspicious activity?"

"He was giving money to somebody."

"Man or woman?" Hutch says tiredly.

"Woman, mostly."

"Were they on some kind of schedule?"

"I think so," Molly says. "I'd have to check to be sure, but I think they came about once a month."

Monthly payments to a woman? I see where this is going.

"Molly," Hutch says before I can put my two cents' in. "I want you to think about the size of those payments. How big were they?"

"About a hundred credits each."

I decide to step in. "Is it possible that he's making these payments to a prostitute? Or an exotic dancer?"

When I was young and on the run, most of the "working girls" I knew took anywhere from a hundred to five hundred each time, if they worked in the shadier parts of the galaxy. Higher-end prostitutes could make thousands in a night.

"A hooker?" Ezra speaks up. "Why would an ISB agent want a hooker?"

"You'd be surprised who comes down to those levels." I say dryly.

Molly snorts. "If it's a prostitute or a stripper, then she has a Force-awful stripper name. I mean, who calls themselves 'Emily Spring' by choice?"

Sierra jumps like someone's lit a stick of dynamite under her. _"What_ did you say her name was?"

"Emily Spring?"

Hutch swivels in his chair and brings up the financial records in the blink of an eye. "I'm bringing them up right now."

Steela speaks up.

"I just thought of something," she says. "If it's Nightwine's job to expose con men, then why hasn't he caught on to Spencer yet? His game is way more obvious than our last one, and Nightwine still hasn't stopped it and saved the Empire thousands of credits."

"What are you saying?"

"What if Nightwine isn't such a straight arrow?" she asks. "What if he's working with someone to supply his victims? We know he received a shady payment right before he kidnapped you, Sierra."

No one answers; they're all glued to Hutch's computer as he pulls Nightwine's financial records, selects the payments to Emily Spring, and follows the account.

"It's a dummy account." He says dully. "I'm trying to trace it, but it's going through so many servers it's bouncing me off every corner of the galaxy.

"Who owns it?"

"I don't know," Hutch says. "But whoever owns it also has another account. The name on this one is Matthew Cooper."

Ahsoka looks pointedly at Sierra.

Sierra's mouth falls open. "No!"

Ahsoka turn to Hera and me. "Hera, Kanan, where is Sabine _right now?"_

"She's gone out with Chopper to buy new paints." Hera says in a tenuous voice.

"Hutch, raise her on the comm!"

"What's going on?" I demand. "Is Sabine in some kind of trouble?"

"If what we think is true, she's in serious danger." Lux says. "But don't worry, it's highly -."

"Lux, Ahsoka, Sabine's off comms." Hutch interrupts.

"Do you think it could be -?"

Hutch swears. "I ran the records in the background. The payment Nightwine sent to 'Matthew Cooper' was cashed at a spaceport ATM on Mandalore yesterday, three hours before a flight to Lothal disembarked."

"Hutch…"

"Tracking Sabine's last known location now!"

"What's going on?" Ezra cries. "Who's after Sabine?"

"We're still not sure, Ezra." Ahsoka soothes. "But whoever got on that transport reminds us of someone, and Sabine fits his type."

"Type?" Zeb asks.

"People like the man who did this prefer to target victims who fit certain criteria." Tandin explains. "It can be species, occupation, physical appearance, or even something as obscure as what they did that day. This man prefers teenage girls who serve as a surrogate for someone who wronged him. The only one in our party who fits this model is Sabine."

"Wronged him?" I sputter. "But she didn't do anything to him."

"She didn't have to." Steela spits. "She's a rebel and she was working as a grifter. The last person who wronged him was a rebel and a grifter."

"In this guy's mind, Sabine takes the place of the rebel." Tandin explains. "Since the rebel wronged him and Sabine's in her place, then he's going to take out his revenge on her."

My stomach ties in knots. "We've got to find her!"

"Sabine's comm last pinged off a market square, probably where she was buying her paints." Hutch says. "After that, the signal dies. Last ping was three minutes ago."

Hera speaks up. "She was wearing that bracelet I gave her. It has a tracking device hidden in one of the beads."

Hutch taps a few more keys. "That signal held out longer. Thirty seconds ago, in the warehouse district."

"Everyone, go out in pairs to find her." Lux orders. "Ahsoka, you're with me."

Ahsoka leans in close. "Lux," she whispers at a volume I can only hear with help from the Force. "I need to take Sierra. Her anger is alarming."

I don't even have to look at Sierra to confirm it, but I do. She's clutching a datapad, pure fury and consternation written all over her face.

But Hera is too absolutely, mortally terrified about Sabine to notice.

"Why did he pick her?" She shouts. "Why did Nightwine tell him about her? _Who is this person?"_

"His name is Commander Torrance," Sierra spits, shaking with rage. "But fourteen years ago, when he had me strapped to a torture table, he said I could call him Tor."

 **LUX**

Once the word "Tor" was out of her mouth, it was all I could do to make Sierra wait for Ahsoka before rushing out the door.

I call out partners. "Hera and Steela, Saw and Zeb, Rex and Tandin, Hero and Katooni, you're partners. Ezra, stay here with the others. Hutch is in charge! Kanan, you're with me."

…

But right before we enter the warehouse district, our comms go off.

 _"Do you want to hear something really horrible?"_ Hutch asks.

"I don't think it can get much worse." Kanan snaps.

 _"Trust me, it does."_ Hutch answers. _"I looked deeper into Nightwine's financials and tracked everything that was going on where he was stationed when he made an irregular deposit. Once I narrowed it down to missing persons and murders, then I found a pattern. Steela was right."_

"What kind of pattern?"

 _"Let's start with Uriah Romano. Nightwine wrote him a citation for damaging Imperial property and he spent the night in lockup. Ten minutes after he walked out, a few Hutt goons dragged him into an alley and killed him. Apparently he owed Porla money. Then we'll follow up with Jado Brik, a Duros who went missing right after a bunch of security cameras caught him hanging around one of Nightwine's jobs."_

He huffs. _"I dug back to Sierra's case, which was no picnic because those files are dinosaurs. Right before Nightwine arrested her, he sent a HoloMail to Tor saying who he had and that he could arrange for a transfer straight to Tor's custody. Next thing that comes across is a two thousand credit transfer to Nightwine's account. Tor didn't just get Sierra, he_ bought _her. I've been tracking every other weird deposit since then, and every time there's been some kind of murder or kidnapping or something happening. You guys, Nightwine is selling people to their enemies. This is a bad dude!"_

"I don't care about Nightwine!" I shout. "You need to find what Tor's been up to so we can stop him before he takes Sabine!"

 _"That's the other thing."_ Hutch says. _"Lux, there was an incident at Tor's prison three years ago, right after the leader of a prison gang was transferred over. This guy turned his toothbrush into a shiv and knifed Tor in the exercise yard."_

I don't know whether to pray that Hutch is right or beg that he is wrong.

 _"Everyone, Tor's not behind this. Tor is dead."_

Silence.

 _"But if he's not behind this,"_ Steela asks. _"Then_ _who the kriff is? "_

 **A/N: Which is worse, thinking that Tor is going after Sabine or not knowing at all? At least the rebels never have to worry about their least favorite person again.**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics and Rose Ravenclaw for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Lux's Sister**


	10. This One Doesn't Deserve An Apple

**CHAPTER TEN – THIS ONE DOESN'T DESERVE AN APPLE**

 **SABINE**

There are a few vendors on Lothal who sell paints, but only one has the honor of being my personal favorite. He carries a wide array of colors and types of paint, from the palest pink watercolor to the deepest burgundy textured paint, and that's just the reds.

He doesn't try to overcharge, either: even though he's hard to talk down, all the paints are fairly priced. He even gave me a free brush on my birthday. And to top it all off, he doesn't ask that many questions besides what I think of the weather that day.

As you can guess, I'm a customer for life.

"Chopper, do I need more green?" I ask while inspecting the colors.

 _"Waugh?"_

Of course he wasn't paying attention. "Green, Chopper. Do you remember how much I have left?"

 _"Who-waugh-wow?"_

"What kind of green? Green like Hera. Remember, I painted that picture of her for her birthday?"

Chopper makes a sound of realization, then says he doesn't know.

"Great." I roll my eyes and turn to the vendor. "I'll take one small bottle of your light green, please. A purple and orange, too."

The vendor places the paints in a bag and looks suspiciously at my head. "You want to go back to your old colors?"

"I don't use paint on my hair." I announce. "I have dyes for that."

"I thought so, I just never know." The vendor says. "That'll be twenty cred."

I hand over the chip and he gives me the bag of paints. I put it into my pack and say goodbye to the vendor.

"All right Chop, let's get out of - Chopper?"

Chopper isn't by the stand. I look around. _Come on, where can a loud, vulgar, obnoxious droid possibly hide?_

 _Oh, there are lots of places._ My common sense says.

But luckily, fate smiles down on me. Across the market, I hear a droid beep out an insult I hope no small children could hear.

My head snaps in the direction of the insult. Sure enough, there's Chopper rolling down the street at nearly top speed.

"Chopper!" I bolt down the street, apologizing to a person who I nearly knock over and shouting "excuse me" every two seconds. "Chopper, wait up! Where are you going?"

Chopper doesn't answer. Instead, the little droid keeps on going.

"For the love of Mandalore…" I grumble and take off after him.

…

Chopper doesn't slow down until we're far from the market, in the Lothal warehouse district. He turns sharply to the left and rolls into a building.

In the middle of the floor, he finally stops.

"What's so important that you had to leave and proceed to ignore me all the way here?" I demand, tired from running and of Chopper's antics. "And why didn't you warn me?"

 _"Wo-WAUGH, Woh-WOH-waw!"_

"What do you mean, someone made you?" I ask, a cold feeling germinating.

Chopper extends his arms, waving wildly and beeping his story.

"You mean to tell me that someone took control of you and brought you here?"

"WAH!"

I can only think of one reason why someone would want Chopper. Hera makes sure to wipe his memory regularly, so that's out. And why would they make him come all the way to the warehouse district when they could have easily had him roll into an alley where they waited?

And why let me follow him?

The cold feeling which began in my spine now sweeps down it, shooting down my limbs and pooling in a knot of dread in my gut. Because the only way this makes sense is if Chopper's not the target.

I am.

 _Why would somebody want me? The Imperials usually don't set up stings like this, so I don't think it's them. Vizago? Kidnapping isn't his method of choice. Azmorigan? If he knows we're working with Ahsoka's people, then he might. But if he wants back at them, then why wouldn't he go after them or their kids?_

 _Ketsu? This isn't her style at all._

The realization hits: this is someone I don't know and haven't dealt with before.

Someone very, very bad.

"Chopper," I implore. "We're leaving. Now!"

No sooner have the words left my lips than the warehouse door slams shut.

 **AHSOKA**

"Warehouse district." Sierra mutters. "Of course, it has to be the warehouse district. Tor could have thrown her into a fighter and been off planet by now."

 _We have to assume they're still in the district. If they aren't we've already lost._

I cast a nervous look to my sister-in-law. Sierra Bonteri doesn't look like the galaxy's most stable individual right now.

"Everyone else is looking for her too." I reassure as we race through the streets. "With all of us on the hunt, he doesn't stand a chance."

But Sierra isn't buying. "He's had fourteen years to perfect his strategies, Ahsoka. And once he lays eyes on Sabine he won't be able to resist."

"What do you mean?" It's usually not a good idea to egg her on, but having Sierra talk is a good idea right now. Her family's always been good at channeling their emotions out their mouths.

"Just think about it." Sierra frets. "Sabine and I have the same color eyes-."

"No, you don't. Yours are dark brown, and hers are more golden brown."

"Close enough! He's not very picky. All he cares about is that we fill his role. Sabine's eyes are close enough to mine to count. And her hair… oh, by the Temple of Unifar."

The mention of Sabine's hair sends chills down my spine. Tor took Sierra's hair as a trophy, and it was just plain brown. Sabine's bright blue hair is a rarity, a work of art in itself, and would make a much more interesting trophy.

It's our job to make sure he never gets close to bringing a pair of shears to Sabine's head.

"Forget about that for a moment. We need to find out where he is." I look around. "We know he needs some kind of isolation to keep her; we can bet she won't go down quietly."

"This whole block is isolated." Sierra comments. "If he gets her into one of these, he has all the privacy he needs."

"All right, what about a way in? He can't just walk and hope the stormtroopers don't see him."

"A speeder?" She suggests. "That would work."

"Do you see one?" I ask, looking up and down the alleyway.

"No." She rubs her temples. "We're missing something. There has to be another way to narrow it down."

 _All right, Ahsoka, think back to when you were taken. You were incapacitated by a nerve gas and Tor picked you up from a battlefield. But you were the first victim; they're the most important but the modus operandi is almost never set in stone. With Sierra, Nightwine tore apart her alias and Tor had his men bring her in after they incapacitated her with a Taser. We both were kept in Tor's prison facility…_

"Hutch?" I ask into the comm. "Are any of these warehouses owned by the Empire?" Nothing but static. "Hutch? St James!"

Sierra swears. "Nightwine's jamming the frequencies again. He did that before. Great. What are we supposed to do now, manually go through the deeds?"

"We can eliminate anything directly off the street, or next to an alleyway that isn't big enough to fit a speeder through." She says, looking around for any potential candidates.

It's hard to see much of anything with the dirt and garbage on the street, obscuring the view of the warehouses. But what am I looking for, anyway? A mark of some kind? A blinking neon sign reading HERE with a giant arrow pointing to the door?

Garbage…

"Wasn't the alias supposed to inspect all aspects of the farming operation?" I ask.

"Livia Blane? Yes." she says. "We just stopped it at the fields with the phony nitrate test."

"She was slated to inspect the warehouses, and they knew she was coming." I start my search again, this time with criteria in mind.

"If the Empire knew an inspector was coming, they would have spruced up their warehouse." Sierra realizes. "And that means they would have cleaned it."

"How clean do you think it'll be?"

"We should be able to see our reflections on every surface." She says confidently. "My health inspector alias nailed a mess hall on a few clods of dirt."

Spencer clearly wouldn't risk not passing inspection. "So, they probably cleared the shelves of cleaning products?"

"For sure. Do you smell bleach anywhere?"

"No, but if they're going to spruce up a building dirty as these, they'll need a power washer. And a hookup to a hydrant…"

"Has to be this way." She takes off down the street. "Hurry!"

…

As we run down the hallway, the feeling that something's wrong only grows stronger.

"Sierra, wait up."

"Wait up?" she asks, so wired that her voice comes out in a girlish squeak. "We can't wait up! We have to get to Sabine before Tor gets her. Before he does God-knows-what to her! Before -."

I shake her, hard. "Sierra, would Tor set up operations in a place like this? Would he want to spend any length of time here?"

I look pointedly at the piles of rubbish. One thing about Tor, he keeps things clean. He yelled at a guard smoking a death stick because it stank up the hallways and every crease in his uniform was perfectly pressed when we found him the interrogation room. He would feel like he needs a Hazmat suit in Lothal's filthy warehouse district.

Sierra picks up on it too. "Even if the warehouse was cleaned?"

"He'd still have to go outside sometimes." I explain. "This place isn't sterile enough for him. He wouldn't set foot on this block."

She closes her eyes. "Which means…"

"It's not Tor. We just took Nightwine's bait hook, line, and sinker."

 **SABINE**

The second the door shuts, my survival instincts take over. I leave Chopper behind and stick on my helmet, flipping on the night vision to navigate.

There are some crates stacked against the wall. I dash for those and slide myself between a few, in a little cubby that hopefully, whoever's come for me won't remember to check.

I pull one of my pistols from the holster and check it. Hopefully Chopper's circuits are on straight enough that he doesn't try to follow me. If he tries to get through here, he'll certainly knock something over and give away my position.

"Shut that droid off!"

A few noises of protest from Chopper, and that concern is no more.

Footsteps echo through the warehouse and I hold my breath.

"You told me she would be here!" An impatient, female voice snaps.

"She is," Nightwine growls. "We sealed her in. She's just hiding."

"She'd better be."

"She is. You have to admit this is entertaining after being locked up for all those years. And I still haven't received my payment, Ms. Vikil."

"You'll get it once I have the girl." Vikil says.

 _Vikil? It can't be the same Vikil as before, right?_

I shift to get a better view. Come on, I can do better than this! There are only two people here and I have a night vision visor. Shooting them should be a piece of cake.

But I still can't see them when I look around the corner of the crate.

I need a better position. If it's not that I simply can't see them, but that these people aren't in the main part of the room, then they're hunting me. My best bet is to find a position where I can stay concealed yet have a decent shot if they come into my sightlines.

"It's all right, Sabine." Vikil coos. "I'm not going to hurt you."

All thoughts of finding a new hiding place cease when he says my name. That clinches it: I know this woman. Lin Vikil was the head of espionage training at the Imperial Academy on Mandalore, and I was her star pupil. _Think, Sabine, think. Did Ketsu say anything about Vikil losing her job after we escaped?_

"Clan Wren, House Vizsla," Vikil muses. "You know, my dear, I haven't had the pleasure of working with someone of such lineage for a good long while. Or with anyone, in fact. No serious employer would hire an instructor who'd been fired by the Empire after losing two of her brightest cadets. I can only teach women's self-defense for so long before going insane from all these henpecked housewives."

Looks like she did lose her job.

"But you?" She whistles. "You completed my class faster than anyone I'd ever seen, Sabine. I admire your fighting spirit. How about you come out and show me what you can do?"

I'm not that much House Vizsla to respond to what's clearly a trap.

"You saw the picture. Can you believe what she's done to her hair?" Nightwine adds.

"I did. Colors like that are completely against regulation." Vikil snorts. "She showed such promise as an agent and a representative of the Mandalorian people. It's such a shame she decided to throw her heritage away. You're certain this crew of Onderonian jungle freaks won't find us?"

"It was easy as planting the right name." Nightwine says confidently. "Once Lux Bonteri sees the name "Torrance," there'll be no stopping him. I sold his sister to Torrance when she was a child; he won't pass up an opportunity for revenge."

I swallow hard. If the Bonteris are looking for Tor, they'll probabaly have Kanan and Hera working for them. That means nobody will be looking for Vikil and coming for me. The only way I can get out of here alive is with my gun.

I swallow hard, steel myself, and stand with the pistol out. "I'll show you a Mandalorian _gunfight,_ you-!"

"WAUGH-WOH! WOOOOOAH!"

My head snaps toward the noise. Chopper rolls toward me at top speed, electroprods out.

"Chopper, what are you doing?" I shout, jumping out of the way. But it's not enough.

Chopper's probe arm extends, jabbing me with the prod and filling my body with electricity. The bucket of spare parts beeps frantically; they must be remote-controlling him again.

I don't have time to concern myself with that, because I can't move.

Someone catches me before my head hits the ground.

"Careful, now." Vikil says, her breath fiery on my ear. "We don't want to bruise your lovely face."

 **A/N: We all remember that one teacher we didn't like, but Sabine's teacher problem trumps all of them. At least it's not Tor.**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, Johnt12345, and Rose Ravenclaw for your lovely reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Lux's Sister**


	11. Con Men Can Hit Pretty Hard

**CHAPTER ELEVEN – CON MEN CAN HIT PRETY HARD**

 **SABINE**

 _"Careful, now." Vikil says, catching me before my head hits the ground. "We don't want to bruise your lovely face."_

…

 _No!_

Vikil hooks her arms under mine and drags me to one of the crates. She leans me against one and kneels before my immobile body.

"Let's take this helmet off you, shall we?" she half-suggests, placing a hand on either side of my helmet and easily lifting it off, setting it on the floor. "And the pistols. You remember your lessons; those'll have to go too."

With the helmet gone, it takes a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the bright lights. Vikil's aged since I last saw her, in his late thirties or even forties. Her cruel gray eyes go from me, to a piece of flimsi in her hand, back to me…

She smiles. "You changed your hair."

My common sense whacks me. _Make some noise, Sabine. Scream!_

I pull in air and open my mouth to do so, but all that leaks out is a pathetic little whimper.

"Oh it's all right." she says, swallowing a chuckle. "Don't worry. I would never hurt my brightest student."

She reaches for my head, fingers outstretched. "You've grown since I last saw you. What a pretty girl..."

My feet tingle and I experimentally twitch my toes to dissipate the feeling. It doesn't make any sense; I've only been shocked a few seconds ago, they should still be completely immobile.

 _Unless Chopper, with whatever measure of control he had left, turned down the probe!_

I twitch my toes again, then in one fluid motion yank my leg back and thrust it toward Vikil.

"Woah!" she shouts, as if I'm a child who's accomplished some impressive feat. "Feisty, are you? I guess I taught you a little too well."

I line up for another kick, but Nightwine grabs my legs and wrenches them together, clamping a pair of binders around my ankles.

"You came prepared."

"I would cuff her before she can use her arms." Nightwine replies, holding out another pair of binders.

"Of course," Vikil takes the cuffs from him. As she comes closer, I throw my weight to the side. Even though Chopper's reduced voltage is allowing me to gain control of my body faster, my range of motion is reduced to that of a flopping fish.

"Oh Sabine, what are you doing?" She chides and grabs me again. "That won't do any good."

"Ms. Vikil," Nightwine snaps. "I don't have all day. You have your girl, now I want my credits."

Vikil hands him a pouch of what I assume are credit chips. "It's all there, Nightwine. Pleasure doing business with you."

As Nightwine leaves I try to throw myself again, but Vikil catches me mid-toss. "Sabine, you need to be careful. You're going to hurt yourself if you keep that up. Now," she picks up the binders from the floor. "I'll just put these on your hands, and we'll be on our way."

 _Test your voice again._

I take a deep breath, and this time my vocal cords hold. "Not a chance," I rasp.

"Oh, we're talking now?" She grunts, yanking my arms behind my back. "I'd save your strength, my dear. You're going to need it later."

 _Keep her talking. The longer you stall, the more control you'll have over your body._

"Found Ketsu yet?" I antagonize, pulling hard on my arms to try and break her grip. No dice. "She was just as happy to leave the Imperial academy. Did you know she works for Black Sun?"

The binders lock around my wrists, and I wince.

Vikil leans me against the crate now that my arms are uncomfortably secured behind my back. "I couldn't care less about Ketsu Onyo. It's you who showed the real promise that would have secured my job."

 _Just like I thought: she's crazy._

She pulls the flimsi from his pocket. "Take a look at this photo for me."

I look. The man in the photograph wears an Imperial military uniform and a smug expression on his face.

"This is Commander Torrance." Vikil explains. "Your friends are hunting him down as we speak. By the time they realize he's been dead the entire time, we'll be long gone. I hope you have whatever you need in that bag, because we won't be coming back. In fact, I would get some rest right now; it'll make things much easier for you and there's a long journey ahead."

"A long journey where?"

"To Mandalore, of course." she replies. "The Empire will be more than happy to see you there."

"That still won't get your job back!" I shout.

"It doesn't have to." she replies. "Even if the Imperials don't offer me my old position, I can take you to Black Sun and they'll gladly pay my salary's worth as a bounty. Now, hold still. We're leaving."

Luckily for me, my training and my survival instincts kick in all at once.

I throw myself to the floor and start rolling like a log. Not the most sophisticated move, but it's the best I can do bound like I am. Vikil may have my pistols, but when she comes after me there's only going to be one possible position she can be in: on her feet.

 _Wait until she comes after you, roll onto your back and kick her in the knees,_ I order myself. _That's your only shot. Once she's down, roll out of here and get somebody to untie you._

Vikil chases after me. "You little brat!"

I steel myself and flip onto my back, ready to slam my feet where it'll count.

She'll be here in five seconds…four…three –

"WAUGH-WAUGH WAH!"

"Oh, _God_ no!"

But then the best surprise I've had all day comes. Chopper, swearing in Binary, slams into Vikil and knocks her off her feet.

 _No remotes, meatbag!_

"Meatbag?" Vikil roars, scrambling back to her feet.

Chopper positions himself between him and me, prods out. The sight of the little rust bucket has never been sweeter.

"I'll show you "meatbag," you worthless -."

Suddenly Vikil's lifted into the air as if on a puppet string, then goes flying across the warehouse.

 _The Force. It has to be the Force!_ I roll onto my side to face the direction the blast came from.

Ahsoka stands in the doorway, her hand still extended from the force push.

"Nice try." She says.

Chopper wheels himself beside me, beeping and frantically waving his probe arms until Sierra rushes through the door, and up to my side.

"Are you all right Sabine?" she asks as she pushes me into a sitting position.

"Yeah" I nod, struggling with the binders. "I'll be better when these things come off."

"I hear you there. Chopper, a little help?"

"WUB-WUB WUH."

Sierra doesn't speak Binary, but I do. "What do you mean, you don't have a vibrosaw?"

"WUH WUB."

I sigh. "Hera took it so she could hone the blade? Great."

"Okay," Sierra says. "It's not over, we might be able to pick the lock." She ducks behind me to examine the cuffs and experimentally pokes around the lock.

"On second thought, we might need Steela."

I have no idea where Steela Gerrera is right now, but I'd bet my helmet she's more than ten seconds away.

Vikil coughs. "What is the meaning of this? You have no right to interfere with an Imperial arrest!"

Ahsoka waves her lightsaber. "Don't you dare speak to either one of them, slime. Sabine, who is she?"

"Her name is Lin Vikil. She was my espionage instructor at the Imperial academy before I defected." I announce. "I don't understand. Nightwine said you were looking for someone named Torrance."

"Tor?" Sierra asks. "Yes, we thought it was him at first. The bank statements Hutch found were impressively faked. But, what Nightwine forgot was that Tor would never operate somewhere so dirty."

"You're mistaken! This girl is wanted by the Empire for defection." Vikil shouts. "I need my old job back and she took it from me!"

Sierra's nails dig into my shoulders as she tightens her grip on me.

"Don't listen to her," she whispers. "Oh, where have I heard this before?"

"Sierra." Ahsoka orders. "Get Sabine out of here and find Steela to take the cuffs off."

"And leave you here with Lady Tor?No way!"

"There's only one way to make sure she doesn't go after Sabine again." She says calmly. "And that's to finish this once and for all."

 _"No way!"_

"Sierra you are an actress, not a fighter. It's the only way. Anyway, she's over fifty now. Five-oh." Ahsoka snorts. "I'll be fine. Now you and Sabine get out of here and get the boys."

…

I can't believe Sierra actually listened, hefted me over her shoulder and left the warehouse.

"That's it?" I demand. "We're just going to run and leave Ahsoka behind?"

"No," she says, huffing and puffing from the burden of carrying me. "We need to get out of the range of their jammers so we can call the ship."

"Call the ship?" I ask. I can't believe this: we left Ahsoka with Vikil - who she called "Lady Tor"- I'm literally dangling from her shoulder bound hand and foot, and she wants to call the ship?

Sierra readjusts her grip around my waist and I slide off her shoulder and hurdle headfirst into the ground. My head hits the pavement with a hard, sharp crack.

"Oh my God," Sierra says, rolling me over and pressing a hand to my forehead to check. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

I wince at the pressure on the rapidly swelling bump. "I'm fine. Why are we leaving?"

"Ahsoka only gets that look on her face when she's about to run a game on someone." She grunts, hoisting me again. "And I have no idea what she has up her sleeve. When I don't, Lux and Steela probably do. We need to get a signal!"

…

 _"You left her?"_ Lux shouts through the comm.

"She made me!" Sierra protests. "I tried to help, but we had to get Sabine out. She's tied up, I don't know how to pick the locks and to top it off, I just dropped her headfirst."

 _"I'm on my way now."_ Steela says. _"I'll get those off you, Sabine._

Thank goodness. My hands and feet are starting to go numb and my head kills.

"Lux, she's running some kind of game." Sierra interrupts, finally setting me down. "I'm not sure which one, but she has her 'running a con' face on."

 _"You're the grifter, not me!"_ Lux protests.

"You're the one who's married to her."

Why is this exchange between the Bonteris suddenly reminding me of Ezra's and my bickering? I guess some things never change between siblings.

 _"Okay, okay."_ Steela says. _"Just tell us what Ahsoka said and did."_

"She said that she was staying behind so that she could handle Vikil and finish whatever this is instead of letting her have Sabine." Sierra explains. "When I offered to help in case she pulled something, Ahsoka said no."

 _"Why?"_

"Something about Vikil was fifty, and she could handle it."

"But she's not fifty." I say, bemused. "That doesn't make sense; she's way younger than that and Ahsoka knows it."

 _"Hold it,"_ Steela says. _"Did she spell out that number? Fifty?"_

"Yes," I say, wiggling my fingers in a desperate effort to continue circulation to my hands.

Steela growls. _"I'm coming as fast as I can. Force darn it, Ahsoka!"_

"I don't understand. What's she doing?" I ask.

 _"Think about those numbers for a minute."_

Sierra shares a blank expression with me, until realization creeps over her face.

"I'm an idiot." She groans.

 **A/N: Just what does Ahsoka have up her sleeve that slipped past Sierra's grift detectors?**

 **I am aware that this chapter is up very early, but I won't be home tonight and I wanted to post this on time so I didn't throw off any update schedules. I don't think anyone's complaining :)**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics and Rose Ravenclaw for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Lux's Sister**


	12. Five-Oh, Five-Oh

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN – FIVE-OH, FIVE-OH**

 **SIERRA**

" _It's the only way. Anyway, she's over fifty now. Five-oh." Ahsoka snorts. "I'll be fine. Now you and Sabine get out of here and get the boys."_

…

"I'm an idiot." I groan.

Sabine tugs on her bonds. "What is going on?" she cries.

I pick her up once more. "We need to get out of here. This whole place will be swarming with Stormtroopers any time now."

"Stormtroopers?"

" _Five-oh. That's slang for the police."_ Steela explains. _"Ahsoka's trying to tip us off that she's going to run the cops scam."_

I can practically see the bump on her head slowing down her mental gears. "Cops scam?"

"When someone runs the cops scam, they plant evidence and trick the mark into calling the authorities. When you do it right, the police find the planted evidence and arrest the mark while you walk away clean." I explain.

Steela clears her throat. _"Hera and I are only about a block away from your position. Keep coming west and we'll meet in the middle."_

"Thank goodness." Sabine says.

 _Thank goodness_ my straining arm muscles say as I turn west, the quickly-approaching of my friend and Sabine's turned to shadow by the setting sun.

Hera Syndulla and Steela don't stop until they've reached us.

"Sabine!" Hera cries, her voice a primal shout of relief. She completely ignores me, instead choosing to duck around my back to where Sabine can see her. "Sabine, thank goodness!"

Steela stops in front of me. "You all right?"

I nod. "I'm just glad we got her out before Nightwine did."

"Me too." She hooks an arm around Sabine's legs. "Hera, a little help lifting her?"

Hera and Steela lift Sabine off my shoulders. While Hera leans her friend against the nearest wall, Steela sits before Sabine's outstretched legs and places her feet in her lap.

"Do your feet tingle or are they already numb?" she asks while inspecting the lock.

"They're numb."

Steela draws a slim piece of durasteel from her pocket. "Hang in there. It'll only be a few more seconds." She says as she slides the file into the lock. A few sharp twists later, and the binders disengage. "Better?"

"Thanks."

"We're not done yet and the handcuffs are the worst." Steela says, gently pushing Sabine to bend over. "The angle is always awkward so you might feel a little pressure while I do this."

"Just get it over with." Sabine grits her teeth.

Steela's arm twists a nanosecond before Sabine's face follows suit. "Ah!"

"Hold on, almost got it." Steela grunts. "Almost got it…"

The cuffs release.

"Thank you."

"No problem." Steela says, replacing her file. "Now give Hera your hands."

Hera grabs Sabine's hands and starts to rub them vigorously to return the feeling. I sit at the end of her legs and remove the pink boots to rub her feet.

"Is the feeling coming back?" Hera asks.

Sabine shakes her head, then suddenly nods as the pins-and-needles feeling erupts over her limbs. I know what that feels like, and it's not pleasant.

"That's good." Hera observes and gently takes hold of her face to examine the bruise. "I'm not a doctor, but I don't think it's anything serious."

"We'll have Tandin and Mina check her out." Steela says as she kneels next to me and takes a foot.

It's true. We're extraordinarily lucky that we figured out what was going on so quickly. We're lucky that Ahsoka figured out the link with the Imperial warehouse being cleaned. We're lucky Sabine and Chopper managed to fend Vikil off as long as they did. But most of all, we're lucky that this wasn't Tor after all.

…

 _When Saw carried sixteen-year-old me out of Tor's interrogation rooms, I clutched his shirt because I was afraid I would fall or be ripped out of his arms. He held me close both to warm me up and calm my fears. When my muscles went slack and released his shirt, he thought I had just fallen asleep._

 _My mother's intuition saved my life. When she noticed something was radically wrong with me, she ordered Steela to get Captain Rex._

 _"What's wrong?"_

 _"What's wrong?" Mom cried. "Look at her! This isn't hypothermia, Captain."_

 _Rex took my pulse, then grabbed a blood pressure cuff from our medkit and inflated it._

 _"Saw!" he shouted back into the common room. "Get Ahsoka and Lux right now. Hero, contact Senator Organa; we need to get Sierra to his medcenter immediately."_

 _"What's wrong with her?" Mom demanded._

 _"Her blood pressure is dangerously low." Rex explained. "She's gone into shock."_

…

Sabine isn't in medical shock, and she isn't waking up in the middle of the night screaming and drenched in sweat. Both very, very good outcomes considering what would have been if our fears had been true.

"They don't tingle anymore." Sabine announces and carefully pulls her hands from Hera's before reaching to grab her boots. "Thanks, you guys."

"I hope you can walk." Steela says. "If I know Ahsoka at all, she won't waste any time putting her scam into action. And trust me, we won't want to be around when it happens."

"Unless she's not calling the cops."

Steela stares at me. "You just said she was."

"When we left, she told me to get 'the boys'." I say. "Not the crew, not our friends, just 'the boys'. That doesn't make any sense when half our crew is female, and all the men are adults. I don't think she's talking about our men."

"She's talking about 'the boys in blue'." Hera realizes. "She wants _us_ to call the Empire on _her?"_

Steela closes her eyes and sighs. "It sounds crazy, but it's definitelysomething Ahsoka would do, by the temple of Unifar. Sometimes I wonder about that woman…"

"Don't tell me you don't already have ideas." I respond. I have not shared a cabin with Steela for fifteen years for nothing.

"I'll call the rest of the crew." Hera says. "I trust you two know what you're doing."

"Oh," Steela says, smiling. "We most _certainly_ do. Just give us a few minutes to meet with the others and whip something up."

 **LUX**

Kanan doesn't waste an instant when he sees Sabine and Hera walking up the ship's ramp.

" _Sabine!"_ He shouts, rushing down the ramp to hug her. "Sabine, you're all right!"

Sabine stiffens in his arms at first; apparently Kanan isn't the touchy-feely type, but I've told him enough horror stories to scare the Jedi witless.

Without any addresses or information, there was nothing I could do. I started to spout off everything my dad said about what happened to Ahsoka, everything that Sierra says happened to her, and everything I saw with my own eyes or found on Hutch's list of dirt.

"He freezes his victims?" he asked.

"The cold is his weapon of choice." I said. "It keeps them weak so he can keep them under control. After a day of the treatment, they can't walk without help so he doesn't have to worry about them escaping."

By the time I was through, Kanan was shaking. I'm not sure it was from fear or rage or something else entirely. Even when Hutch commed us to say the aggressor wasn't Tor after all, Kanan didn't stop until he saw Sabine in the flesh.

I still haven't stopped shaking for another, more obvious reason: my wife is with an angry licensed espionage instructor for an Imperial academy.

 _Lux, calm down. Ahsoka is a force user. She trained our kids, she handled an Inquisitor, she's dealt with more Imperial scumbags than we can count! What could possibly happen?_ My shoulder angel says.

 _Oh, there are lots of things._ Shoulder devil answers.

Sabine relaxes a little in Kanan's arms. "I'm fine."

Tandin walks into the room and takes Sabine from Kanan. "I heard about a bump on the head?" he asks and leads her to a chair. "Take a seat, Miss Wren, and follow my flashlight with your eyes."

After flashing the light in Sabine's eyes a few times, he feels the bump on her head with his fingers. "The skin isn't broken and it doesn't look like a concussion. I think you're just fine."

"I'll get her an ice pack," Sierra volunteers. I guess she feels bad about dropping Sabine.

"Thank you," Tandin says. "Sabine, if you start to feel sick or drowsy, tell one of us right away but for now, you should just ice your head."

She nods. "Okay." Sierra walks back into the room and hands her the ice pack to hold against her head. "Thank you."

Kanan clears his throat. "Hutch was telling us about the woman who had you. How did she get you alone?"

Sabine makes a face. "Nightwine had a remote control and hacked into Chopper. I followed the rust bucket all the way to the warehouse and when I wasn't looking they made Chopper stun me."

"But Chopper was guarding you from him when Ahsoka and Sierra came in." Hera says

Hutch swivels around at his workstation. "If whoever was holding the remote walked far enough away, then the signal would have been weak enough for the droid's programming to override it. Chopper acted on his programming to protect his crew members because there was nothing else to impede it."

"And Nightwine left before Chopper saved Sabine." Hera says. "He must still have the remote."

"Shot in the dark, you're right."

"All right!" I cry. "Now that we have that out of the way, how about figuring out how to rescue Ahsoka?"

"She told us to run the cops scam." Steela says flatly.

 _"The cops scam?"_

"Unless you can think up another meaning for 'five-O', then yeah."

I take a deep breath. "Okay, so we need to call the Imperials and get them to arrest Vikil, but not Ahsoka?"

"Yup."

I close my eyes and think. _All right, Mr. Mastermind. This is your job. You're in your element. Find a way to tweak the cops scam, and tell everyone what to do to make it happen._

"Kanan, Hera?" I say finally. "I'm going to need the names of three Imperial officers."

"Which ones?" Kanan asks.

"The biggest control freak, the one with the biggest ego, and the one who's most concerned with public appearances."

Zeb snorts. "The first two are the same person. Agent Kallus."

I suppress a smile. _Even better._

"And according to our sources with open ears, Commander Lyst is trying to get a promotion." Hera offers. "He's probably watching everyone's perception of him."

"Do you know where their offices are?"

Ezra crosses his arms. "Do we? We've been running ops on them since Day One."

This job gets even more feasible as time goes on. "Get me the comm numbers and addresses for both offices. Hutch, do your thing."

Hutch lets out a little war whoop, then yells over his shoulder. "Hey Molly, come in here! We're digging up dirt!"

This time, I do smile. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can stop the dynamic duo of Hutch and his daughter from finding every electronic secret about the mark.

"Why do we need dirt?" Ezra asks.

"That's part of how we're going to make sure Ahsoka doesn't get arrested." I say. "Hutch, has Lyst been out at all?"

Hutch checks. "His credit cards say he goes out to eat every once in a while."

"Perfect, there's our in. Pull up the names of those restaurants. Everyone else, suit up."

 **A/N: I know, it's unfair not to tell you how Ahsoka's doing, but there's a con to plan! Rest assured all the cliffhangers will resolve soon.**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics and Rose Ravenclaw for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Lux's Sister**


	13. The In-and-In

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN – THE IN-AND-IN**

 **AHSOKA**

Lin Vikil pulls herself up using a crate, white-blond hair falling out of her neat bun. "Well, ma'am, it looks like we have a problem."

 _Alright Ahsoka, here's the plan. You have to stall her until the others figure out the clue and everyone can throw something together._

 _Also, say several prayers that Sierra or Sabine picked up on the "five-oh" and "boys" signals. Sometimes with stress, people won't pick up on subtle clues._

I deactivate my lightsabers. "How did you do it? You may have been an espionage instructor, but Sabine? Sabine isn't a fool."

"All children will follow a droid."

I look at the orange droid rolling around in the corner. He apparently decided not to go with Sabine. _"You_ brought Sabine here?"

Chopper releases a barrage of explanation in Binary. If I weed out the swear words, I hear "remote" and "not my fault".

"He did," Vikil says curtly, brushing her palms on her legs. "With some help from Mr. Nightwine and a remote control, the droid was putty in our hands. Led the girl right in like a Loth-kitten chasing a string."

"About her," I bring up. "You said you lost your job because she defected. Has it ever crossed your mind that she might have changed sides because you didn't do your job well enough?"

I mentally cross my fingers. If I've read one signal from this woman, it's that she has an ego as big as a planet. If I can make her think that she messed up, then I have a better chance of stalling.

"I mean, you were an _espionage_ instructor, for goodness' sakes!" I half-laugh. "You probably taught her everything she and Ketsu Onyo needed to escape from the academy. So in a way -."

Vikil's chest puffs out as if to say _Don't say it._

I do. "It was almost your fault!"

Bingo.

She tenses and pulls out one of her pistols. "You're the Jedi woman, Ahsoka Bonteri. Lord Vader wants you on several counts of grand theft as well as the crime of affiliation with the Jedi Order."

"Former affiliation." I correct.

"Forget about the girl," she says. "With you, they'll pay me so much I won't have to worry about getting my job back. Heck, I won't have to worry about working ever again! And it just so happens I've had it with you, Jedi."

I smile, showing all my teeth.

"And I've already had it with you."

She lunges at me and I gracefully sidestep him with the ease of a bullfighter. I almost wish I had a cape to swish behind me.

"Well that's odd. I thought I'd slowed down after having two kids." I muse. "I guess I dodged that motherhood bullet. And really, an espionage instructor is _that slow?"_

 _You know what would be very helpful right now, team?_ I think. _You could arrive to help me before I run out of ideas and have to settle for simply skewering her with a lightsaber._

 _Skewering Vikil with a lightsaber, while personally satisfying and a great deed to the galaxy, will not force her to be dragged back to jail and placed the Empire's solitary confinement cells._

But the mere thought of skewering ends with the sound of approaching speeders and police sirens.

Chopper beeps victoriously.

"Thanks for this very entertaining conversation, Ms. Vikil." I say. "You just forgot one little thing: I'm not a Jedi. I'm a thief. And when we want something, we steal it."

 **THIRD PERSON**

"All right, team." Lux Bonteri says, rubbing his hands together. "Let's bring down Nightiwne, Vikil, and Spencer in one fell swoop."

…

Getting Agent Kallus on board is the easiest part. Tav needs only to pick up his comlink and dial Kallus' office.

Kallus picks up his desk comm. _"Kallus here."_

"Hey, I'm calling to report some kind of vigilante in the warehouse district."

Kallus pauses _"Vigilante?"_

"Yeah, vigilante. She's terrorizing a woman and a droid in a warehouse and going on and on about revenge."

Ezra dials his own comm, causing the other line on Kallus's to light up.

" _Please hold."_ He says curtly and selects Ezra's line. _"Kallus speaking."_

Ezra pinches his nose to disguise his voice. "There's some crazy lady in the warehouse district! You've got to stop her!"

Before Kiara makes her call, she looks at Molly. "What are you doing?"

Molly's fingers fly over the keyboard. "Kallus is about to get six more alerts reporting this vigilante. One is you. The other five are Dad and I," she announces as she releases the text alerts.

At the Imperial headquarters, Kallus stares at the desk comm's lines lighting up like a Life Day tree.

"Send squads to the warehouse district!" he orders, grabbing his helmet off the top of his desk.

…

Ahsoka watches as the ISB and various Stormtroopers flood the warehouse.

"It's about time." She breathes. "Her speech was grating on my nerves."

Vikil glares over her shoulder as two Stormtroopers lead her away. "You have the wrong person! I am an accredited officer, and _that_ woman is a rebel!"

Ahsoka is perfectly calm. "Not to worry, agents." She whispers. "I'm working with the Bounty Hunter's Guild, deep cover."

She hands Kallus her comlink, an Imperial Peacekeeping Contract on the screen.

"Her name is Lin Vikil, got fired from her job after a cadet defected to the rebels. She just bought her from a shady dealer. Sadly, the girl managed to escape before I could catch her." She announces. "Thanks for saving me the trouble of listening to her while I brought him."

"The pleasure is all ours." Kallus says curtly, handing her the comlink. "Thank you for bringing this scum to the attention of the Empire. I'm sure she'll enjoy her stay in prison."

"Prison? You can't be serious!" Vikil shouts. "She's a rebel! A Jedi! She should be the one getting arrested, not me!"

Ahsoka waves at him. "I have a permit for my weapons, as you saw on my contract. Thank you very much for making the arrest, Agent Kallus. By the way, has Lyst contacted you about the dealer?"

Kallus stiffens. "Dealer?"

…

Wearing an oversized sweater and comfortable pants, Steela walks into the Imperial headquarters. Commander Lyst's personal secretary notices her presence immediately.

"Excuse me," she says curtly, cutting in front of her. "May I help you?"

"Is this where Commander Lyst works?" Steela asks, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.

"It is."

"Yeah, can you show me to his office?"

"You'd need an appointment to meet with him." The secretary informs her, looking down her nose.

"You see, I met Commander Lyst at the Jumping Jawa about a month ago and I'm not feeling too well." Steela explains, rubbing her belly.

The secretary looks down at Steela's belly, her eyes big as Lothal. _Oh, no – not this!_

"Do you know if he talked about being a father someday?" Steela asks, her voice crescendoing into a near-shout. "Because that's what I came to talk to him about. I think I'm -."

"All right!" the secretary squeaks, grabbing Steela and rushing her down the hallway. "This is Commander Lyst's office. Just stay in here and don't let _anyone_ see you."

The door shuts behind her, and Steela rolls her eyes. "Why do I always play the pregnant woman?" she grumbles, opens her purse and removes a holodisk. "Easiest drop ever."

…

"Commander Lyst, a woman was in your office a while ago." The secretary says when Lyst returns. "She had to run off, but she says she left a note for you."

"Very well." Lyst says. The secretary takes a deep breath, remembering the woman who burst down the hallway with her hand clamped over her mouth in anticipation of vomiting.

Lyst settles himself at his chair and boots up his holo monitor to see what the woman left for him.

There's no note, but a financial listing with a few crime reports. Financial records for a Mr. Nightwine…

 _Is this what I think it is?_

But a few clicks more, and it's confirmed: fourteen years ago Agent Konrad Nightwine accepted a sizable payment from a Peter Torrance on a day coinciding with the abduction of Sierra Bonteri. That was only the first of over fifty cases. And today he received a payment of rather copious size from Lin Vikil, right before Vikil was arrested for attempting to abduct a girl.

Lyst feels like a child on Life Day morning. This is just the evidence he needs to nail an ISB traitor and fast-track his route to a promotion. Even the Empire frowns upon selling children to be tortured and killed.

But before he can salivate too much, he sees a second window open on his screen. He selects it.

It's a second financial spreadsheet, but the name on it isn't Konrad Nightwine. It's Robert Spencer.

…

"Mr. Spencer?"

Spencer looks up. "Yes?"

Lyst gestures into his office, and the Stormtroopers pour in. "Robert Spencer, you are under arrest for embezzling Imperial funds."

 _"What?"_

"And I've received a transmission from Department of Agriculture Livia Blane." Lyst snaps "She appears to have found evidence of your attempt to cover up a major soil problem."

"Livia Blane?" Spencer sputters, his eyes growing wide. "Oh no, there's been some kind of mistake. You can ask Mr. Nightwine. She's not who she says she is – she's a con woman!"

"Con woman?"

Spencer looks across the room to behold the blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman wearing a Department of Agriculture uniform and a badge reading LIVIA BLANE.

...

 _"Just a question, what happened to the real Livia Blane?"_

 _"She and the auditing department both think her boss sent her an email to wait at the hotel for further instructions."_

…

 _In Lothal's only posh hotel, a Department of Agriculture investigator lounged poolside in a deck chair, a glass of cool lemonade in her hand._

 _Livia Blane adjusted her sunglasses. What was supposed to be a work trip was turning into a vacation – and what a vacation it was! A comfortable hotel with a bar and a pool all on-site. She'd slept in until ten today, then moved only from deck chair to hot tub and back for the past few hours. When she returned to her room tonight, she thought she'd watch a movie before ordering room service and turning in. And it was all on the Empire's credit chip._

 _The sound of her comlink ringing startled her from her relaxed state. "Hello?"_

" _Livia Blane? This is Emma in the lab. We just received some samples from the Lothal operation and the nitrate levels in these fields are disturbing. I'm sending the reports to you right now."_

 _Livia jumped out of her chair and started power-walking to her room to change into something suitable for work. "Of course. I'll check them immediately," she said, wanting nothing more than to return to her vacation as soon as possible._

" _Emma" smiled._

" _We would appreciate that very much," said Sierra Bonteri._

…

"Honestly," Livia Blane says as Spencer is loaded into a speeder. "The things people come up with. You'd think that someone's controlling everything we do. A con woman, indeed!"

 **A/N: Did you expect any less? Stealing is what they do best, after all.**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, Rose Ravenclaw, Johnt12345, and MusicKeeper for your reviews! And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **Lux's Sister**


	14. Let's Go Steal the Galaxy!

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN – LET'S GO STEAL THE GALAXY**

 **LUX**

"To corrupt Imperials getting thrown away!"

Sixteen spoons clink in midair before diving back into bowls filled with highly decorated sundaes. Desserts aren't usually on our menu, but to celebrate the job's success Mom unearthed a tub of ice cream from a neglected corner of the freezer.

Ezra digs into his sundae with gusto that puts even Tav to shame. "This is great! We never get things like this on the _Ghost."_

Hera looks half-sheepish for a second. "We don't have much space in the galley."

Ahsoka swoops in to stop any potential awkwardness. "Don't feel bad. Our first ship didn't have a big galley either, and we lived off ration bars."

"First ship?" Hera asks.

"When Kiara and Molly were born, we ran out of space." She explains. "We sold our old freighter to a smuggler. What was his name again?"

"Calrissian," Saw answers. "Lando Calrissian."

…

" _Two thousand, final offer." Lando said, jaw firm._

 _Saw Gerrera stifled a snort "Deal." After a quick credit transfer, he handed over the ship's keys._

" _It's all yours, kid." He said, barely able to believe his luck that someone would buy the old rust bucket._

" _Does it have a name?" Lando yelled after him._

 _Saw didn't want to say that the ship had been unofficially christened "Piece of Crap", so he shook his head. "Never got around to it!"_

 _As soon as he was around the corner, Lando's face broke into a grin._

" _There's one born every minute!" he whispered, rushing into the vessel's bowels to look again at the incredible hyperdrive engine. "This has to be the fastest ship in the galaxy!"_

 _He patted the vessel's hull. "Never named before? Well, from now on this here is the_ Millenium Falcon."

…

"We got that piece of crap from a police impound lot." Saw says wryly. "Wouldn't be surprised if it's long gone into spare parts."

"You know what else is long gone?" Steela asks.

Another round of cheering encompasses the table when she shouts _"Nightwine!"_

"But how?" Ezra asks, chocolate ice cream forming a mustache over his upper lip. "Wasn't he the one finding the girls and helping to take them? Even if Tor and Vikil are gone, he could just find another psycho and do the same thing."

"He could." Hutch concedes. "Which is why we took care of him, too. Think on this for a minute, Ezra. If you were a dirty, scheming scumbag who'd just sold a sixteen-year-old to a sadist, where would you go first?"

…

 _Konrad Nightwine stood in front of the ATM, staring gleefully at the amount in his account._

 _Thousands of credits._ Millions. _True, most of it came from his heftly ISB salary, but when he'd first showed Vikil a photograph of Sabine Wren, the woman had been so pleased that she offered Nightwine a considerable chunk of change right off the bat._

 _The rebel was a veritable gold mine. And if he can find a few other clients, then he won't have to worry about saving during retirement, or even at all for the rest of his life._

 _Suddenly, the numbers on the screen change._

 _They're decreasing._

 _Nightwine desperately taps all the buttons, but he can only watch as the money drains from his account._

 _He has dialed half of his bank's comm number when a message lights up the screen of his comlink. The sender is a restricted number, but he opens it anyway._

 _YOU'VE JUST BEEN CHECKED OUT._

 _Nightwine's blood boils. Only one person uses that catchphrase: Hutch St. James, the Cashier from Hell._

 _He clenches his hands into fists. Whatever St. James did with his money, he would find out. He isn't the ISB's top-rated loss prevention agent for nothing – he would use all his connections, all his technology, every resource he had to find his hard-earned riches again._

" _Agent Nightwine?"_

 _Nightwine recognizes the voice. "Agent Kallus? Commander Lyst?" he asks, turning to face them. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"_

" _The law," Lyst says gleefully. "Konrad Nightwine, you are under arrest for harboring a fugitive from the Empire and illegal use of the slave trade."_

…

"Eighty grand of untraceable bribe money from Spencer is just the icing on the cake." Hutch relishes every last word.

I'm not sure whether Ezra's enjoying Hutch's story or the ice cream more. Right now my credits are on the ice cream. For Sabine, however, it's another story. Her sundae turns to soup in its dish while she listens to Hutch, leaning on her elbows to get closer.

I scoop another hunk of ice cream into my mouth and press my hand to my forehead to ward off the gestating brain freeze.

"Lux, are you-?"

"Yes, Soka. I'm fine. I just have a brain freeze." I say and press the pad of my thumb to the roof of my mouth to warm it.

"He gets them bad," Mom says with a smile. "John used to give him ice cream when he was a baby because he would make the funniest faces."

"You don't get one if you go slow." Tav points out, just as his face freezes.

Kiara points and laughs at him. "Ha! That's the pot calling the kettle black!"

Tav glares at her until Ahsoka says their full names very slowly and they go back to their dishes. I understand completely: there's just something about the way a mother says her children's middle names.

The brain freeze abates and I remove my hand from my mouth. "Dear force, that hurts."

Ezra gulps down the last of his sundae. He must have had a few brain freezes along the way but was too distracted to notice.

"So," Zeb asks. "How many credits are we talking?"

"Your cut, or the total?"

"Total."

I rub my chin.

"We have eighty thousand in bribe money from Spencer. Before we get into Nightwine's, we have to consider the deductions. We'll make our usual donation to the Alliance, of course. And then the donation to the people of Tarkintown. Then there's equipment and other expenses. We also covered Livia Blane's hotel expenses because she was so cooperative and the Empire was going to audit her."

"Then there's the fuel for the ship, the button cam, replacing the earbud. Those expenses deduct from the total." Ahsoka draws it out.

"We also had to pay off a few people." I goad.

Ezra's patience is hanging by a thread. "How much?"

"With the bribe money from Spencer and Nightwine's accounts, our total after expenses is…"

Everyone waits with bated breath.

"One million twenty thousand credits."

Hera gasps.

Tav drops his spoon.

"One … one mill-." Kanan sputters.

"One million thousand total." I repeat, relishing each syllable. "You'll get six hundred thousand after the cut. Enough to fuel your ship and put food on the table for a while?"

Hera nods, eyes enormous. "Yes…that'll cover it for a while."

"They always do come through." Tandin smiles, gently placing an arm around Steela. "They started many years ago and haven't stopped yet."

"We couldn't have done half of it without you, _Your Highness."_ Steela replies.

Tandin rolls his eyes. "How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

"Maybe we should start using another name for you. How about Pops?"

"Steela, we've had this conversation. I am not a father -."

Steela looks at the _Ghost_ crew and points to Tandin. "He says as he is surrounded by the horde of people he helped raise."

Hera nudges Kanan, who looks at her with a raised eyebrow. Then she gestures to Zeb, Ezra, and Sabine.

It looks like Tandin, Mr. "I am not a father even though I practically raised half the people on the ship", has some competition.

But two can play at Steela's game. "If what you say is true, then where's my father's day present?"

"It'll be coming in a few months, on Father's Day."

This time, Hera nudges Ezra and Sabine, who look at each other in befuddlement.

"Um, when is that exactly?" Ezra asks.

"It's in three months; for Tav, Kiara, Katooni, and Molly's references too." Ahsoka says.

This time it's our kids' turn to look sheepish.

"That's so kind of you to get me a Father's Day present. What would I do without you two?" I ask.

Luckily for the kids' egos, Hera changes the topic. "When can we expect to see the money?"

Hutch taps a few keys on his computer. "Check your accounts now."

Hera pulls out her comlink, taps it a few times, and smiles at the screen. She tilts it to show Kanan.

"We'd better be going," she says, standing up and brushing her hands on her pilot's suit. "Thank you all for having us."

"And thank you all for your help with the job." Ahsoka says warmly. "We couldn't have done it without you."

Sierra waves to Sabine. "If you ever get tired of being a graffiti artist, you could be a grifter."

"Thanks," Sabine says, "But I think I'll stick to paints."

"After what just happened, I don't blame you a bit." Steels shrugs. "Even Ms. Crazy Grifter here took a vacation after running into Nightwine, if only because she had a broken leg and couldn't walk in heels."

"Pink plaster casts tend to ruin disguises." Sierra concedes.

"But really," Steela stands up and turns face to face with Sabine. "Well done. Very, very well done."

Kanan comes up behind her and places a hand on her shoulder. "We're very proud of her."

"She's given everyone reason to." Ahsoka says. "You all have, on separate occasions, and I hope we'll see more of you."

"Me too," Ezra says, staring longingly at the ice cream tubs.

But luckily, Hero knows what's coming. She steps into the galley and returns with a small white takeout box.

"It's a goodbye present," she says, placing the (probably mouthwatering) food into Ezra's unbelieving hands.

 **THIRD PERSON**

The _Ghost_ hasn't even made it into hyperspace before Ezra can't take the temptation anymore and begins to rip open the box.

"What is it?" Zeb asks, hovering over Ezra.

Ezra peels away the napkin at the top of the box and smiles.

"Fried nuna wings!"

He snags a wing just as Zeb reaches his hand into the box to fish out a few more, followed by Kanan's, Hera's, and Sabine's hands.

After everyone's eaten their share, Kanan reaches in the box to check for any remaining crumbs. He pauses, and lifts something out.

"Ezra, do you know anything about this?" He says as he holds up a small bottle of vanilla extract.

Ezra's heart stops beating.

 _How did she know?_

Kanan sees the look on his student's face and asks; "Do I want to know?"

Ezra shakes his head, still staring at the bottle of vanilla.

"Okay then," Kanan says and puts the bottle in his pocket. "I'll put this in the galley in case we need it."

Kanan may have taken Ezra's head shake as an acceptable answer, but Hera doesn't. The minute he leaves the room, the pilot swivels around in her chair.

"All right, Ezra. Explain the vanilla bottle, now."

Ezra gulps, dreading Hera's reaction when she hears about the vanilla fried nuna.

…

On the rebel's freighter, Hero St. James chuckles.

"What did you put in the box?" Katooni asks, wise to her mother's shenanigans.

"Just a little vanilla." Hero replies. "What can I say? I'm Waitress from Hell; of course I delivered the wrong condiments."

Tandin sighs. It's a good thing he loves everyone on this ship to pieces, or they'd drive him crazy.

"So," Ahsoka asks when the conversation lulls. "What does everyone think of retiring?"

The ship falls quiet.

"You can't be serious." Steela breaks the silence. "I haven't even gotten to steal the Amulet of Galia yet."

"I have an entire folder of aliases I haven't tried." Sierra says.

"I didn't just develop a new program for nothing." Hutch announces.

"The Alliance always needs more funding." Mina points out. "And look at Saw's knuckles, they're practically twitching at the thought of not being able to fight stormtroopers."

"We can't retire!" Kiara bursts out. "You have to wait until Tav, Molly, and I are old enough to start our own crew!"

"And besides…" Lux says, smiling at Ahsoka. "I already have another job lined up."

Ahsoka nods. She expected as much from Lux.

"What are we stealing now, O love of my life?"

Lux takes a seat in the pilot's chair.

"Force only knows, Soka." he says. "The force only knows."

 **A/N: And that, my friends, is the end to "While Others Became Specters"**

 **As always, I have a lot of thank yous to hand out.**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics for all your loyal reviews and friendly discourse.**

 **Thank you to Johnt12345, for being a kind and insightful reviewer.**

 **Thank you to Rose Ravenclaw, for sticking with me even though you know I will leave you all hanging on a cliffhanger.**

 **Thank you to Martian Scout, for helping me to flesh out the story.**

 **And thank you to MusicKeeper, who binge-read the entire series in a week. I couldn't believe my eyes.**

 **I am pleased to announce another upcoming story, tentatively titled** _ **Dating In the Dark Times.**_ **This one isn't as serious as the others of its ilk, but I will tell you that it involved beaches, art theft, and the ship that just won't float. (So far, it's been a joy to write.)**

 **Until next time,**

 **Lux's Sister**


End file.
